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8U2VI 


MEMORIALS 


JOHN  PITKIN  NORTON, 


LATE    PROFESSOR    OF 


ANALYTICAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  CHEMISTRY, 


YALE  COLLEGE,  NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 


fov  Ihnbatr  distribution. 


ALBANY  : 

ERASTUS  H.  PEASE  &  CO.,  82  STATE  STREET. 
1853. 


J.    MUNSEL.L,   PIUNTKR. 
ALBANY. 


Stack 
Annex 


This  collection  of  memorials  has  been  published  to  meet  the 
requests,  from  many  friends  of  the  deceased,  for  copies  of 
Doct.  PORTER'S  Sermon,  and  other  interesting  notices  called 
forth  by  his  death. 

Several  gratifying  notices  from  various  periodicals,  are  not 
included,  being  similar,  in  tenor  and  general  character,  to  those 
selected. 


memorials, 


From  the  New  Haven  Journal  and  Courier. 

PROF.    JOHN   PITKIN   NORTON.* 

This  much  lamented  man  died  of  a  rapid  decline, 
Sunday,  Sept.  5th,  at  1^  o'clock  p.  M.,  at  the  house  of 
his  father,  John  T.  Norton,  Esq.,  in  Farmington.  Prof. 
Norton  was  appointed,  a  few  years  since,  by  the  corpo- 
ration of  Yale  College,  to  a  new  professorship,  that  of 
Chemistry  applied  to  agriculture  and  the  phenomena  of 
vegetable  and  animal  life. 

At  two  different  periods,  he  passed  nearly  three  years 
in  Europe,  under  eminent  professors,  and  was  diligently 
engaged  in  preparing  himself  for  the  duties  of  his 
appointment. 

Returning  in  1847,  he  began  his  courses  of  both  theo- 
retical and  experimental  instruction.  A  respectable 
class  of  diligent  and  interested  pupils  was  soon  gathered 
around  him,  and  has  been  continued  and  increased  in 
all  the  successive  years. 

*  From  the  pen  of  Prof.  SILLIMAN,  Sen. 


I 

Prof.  Norton  has  been  also  much  before  the  public, 
both  as  a  lecturer  and  an  author,  on  the  subjects  which 
he  had  cultivated,  and  so  high  was  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held  on  account  both  of  his  talents  and 
attainments,  that  his  efforts  were  sought  ibr  in  a  distin- 
guished city*  of  a  neighboring  state.  In  the  desire  to 
meet  that  demand,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fulfill  his 
duties  in  New  Haven,  he  performed  winter  journeys 
twice  weekly,  week  by  week,  during  the  late  severe  sea- 
son, giving  a  lecture  daily  until  his  health  failed  in 
the  spring. 

A  southern  voyage  and  a  residence  in  Florida,  in  March 
and  April,  gave  his  friends  strong  hopes  that  his  health 
would  be  restored,  and  he  commenced  his  journey  home- 
ward with  fair  prospects ;  but  at  Washington  the  mea- 
sles arrested  him,  and  his  health,  although  at  times  im- 
proved, has  fluctuated  from  that  time,  and  for  some 
weeks  the  hopes  of  his  friends  had  been  almost  extin- 
guished. His  decline,  towards  the  last,  was  very  rapid, 
but  his  Christian  hope  sustained  and  cheered  him  in  his 
closing  hours,  as  it  had  been  his  solace  and  guide  in 
health. 

His  character  was  every  way  most  estimable  and 
lovely,  his  manners  mild  and  refined,  and  his  conversa- 
tion animated  and  interesting.  He  was  eminently 

*  ALBANY,  his  native  city. 


happy  in  his  social  and  domestic  relations,  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  every  thing  that  could  make  life  interesting 
and  valuable.  By  a  mysterious  providence  he  was  cut 
off  at  the  age  of  30,  ere  youth  was  gone,  and  in  the 
hour  of  decided  success  in  his  profession. 

He  had  already  made  a  strong  and  favorable  impres- 
sion on  the  public  mind  ;  he  had  gained  the  confidence 
of  ALL,  and  promised  a  long  career  of  usefulness. 

Yale  College,  in  the  short  period  of  five  days,  has  been 
deprived  of  two  of  its  brightest  ornaments  —  one  in  the 
full  maturity  of  years,  learning,  and  honorable  fame  - 
the  other,  in  the  bright  morning  of  hope.  The  excellent 
Gov.  Treadwell  and  the  late  reverend  senator  Timothy 
Pitkin,  were  lineal  ancestors  of  Prof.  Norton. 

His  funeral  was  attended  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  from 
his  late  residence  in  Temple  avenue. 

NEW  HAVEN,  Sept.  8,  1852. 


OCCASIONED  BI  THE 


DEATH  OF  JOHN  PITKIN  NORTON, 

Professor  of  Analytical  and  Agricultural  Chemistry  in  Yale  College. 
PREACHED  IN  FARMINGTON,  CONN.,  SEPTEMBER, 

BY  REV.  NOAH  PORTER,  D.  D. 


SERMON. 


-  "and  l>y  it  he  being  dead  yet  xpcaketh." —  HEB.  xi,  4. 

Tliis  is  said  of  righteous  Abel.  Though  cut  oif  by 
murderous  hands,  he  yet  lived  and  spoke,  in  the  faith, 
the  remembrance  of  which  remained.  By  iaith,  while 
he  lived,  he  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous, 
God  testifying  of  his  gifts;  and  by  it,  being  dead,  he 
spoke  to  survivors,  who  remembered  him ;  and  through 
the  Scriptures  he  speaks  to  us,  also,  and  to  all  men, 
wherever  the  record  comes,  testifying  to  the  excellence 
of  his  faith  in  the  sight  of  God,  its  overcoming  power  as 
a  principle  of  obedience,  arid  its  efficacy  to  justify  and 
save  the  soul. 

In  the  same  manner,  other  good  men,  by  their  remem- 
bered or  recorded  examples  speak,  when  their  lips  are 
silent  in  death.  The  long  list  of  worthies  whose  works 
of  faith  are  recorded  for  our  imitation  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, are  spoken  of  by  the  apostle  Paul  as  a  great  cloud 
of  witnesses  compassing  us  about.  They  speak  to  us 
through  the  Scriptures,  testifying  to  the  faithfulness  of 
God,  and  exhorting  us,  believing  in  hi*  word,  to  l,i\ 


12 

aside  every  weight,  and  run  with  patience  the  race  set 
before  us.  So,  also,  our  personal  acquaintances  who 
have  died  in  the  faith,  and  whose  virtues  are  embalmed 
in  our  memories,  though  dead,  yet  speak,  exhorting  us 
to  follow  their  example.  Though  gone  from  us,  never 
to  return,  they  live,  and  seem  to  be  present  with  us  in 
their  accustomed  scenes.  They  seem  to  speak  to  us  in 
those  scenes,  renewing  and  confirming  the  lessons  of 
wisdom,  which  they  gave  us,  in  word  or  deed,  when  they 
were  here,  and  to  do  this  with  new  impressiveness,  in 
consideration  of  their  end. 

We  ought  then  to  heed  their  voice ;  to  call  up  the 
remembrance  of  their  lives,  and  consider  what  there 
may  be,  by  which  they,  being  dead,  yet  speak.  To  aid 
you  in  this,  I  have  ocasionally  sketched  before  you  cer- 
tain characteristics  of  some  of  our  deceased  friends,  as 
I  have  had  the  time  and  opportunity.  I  have  done  it, 
not  to  eulogise  the  dead,  but  to  benefit  the  living;  and 
with  this  in  view  I  would  now  remind  you  of  some  of  the 
more  striking  traits  of  character  in  our  lately  deceased 
friend,  Prof.  Norton.  He  was  yet  in  his  youth  —  the 
character  of  his  childhood  and  youth  is  fresh  in  the 
remembrance  of  many  of  us — he  was  loved  by  all  of 
us  who  knew  him,  and  his  death  is  greatly  and  very  ex- 
tensively lamented;  and  I  wish  to  take  advantage  of 
these  circumstances  of  the  event  which  we  so  deeply 


13 

deplored,  to  commend  his  virtues  to  your  regard,  and, 
particularly,  to  the  attention  and  imitation  of  the  young 
men  and  lads  who  are  coming  up  among  us  after  him. 
We  can  hardly  realize  that  we  are  to  meet  him  here  no 
more.  It  requires  no  stretch  of  the  fancy,  to  imagine 
his  beaming  countenance  in  his  accustomed  place  in  the 
assembly,  and  his  melodious  voice  joining  in  our  songs 
of  praise.  And  though  he  is  not  here,  and  will  no  more 
be,  yet  his  footsteps  are  here,  and  it  may  be  pleasant  and 
profitable  fo^is  to  gather  up  those  remembrances  of  him 
by  which  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 

1.  His  filial  reverence.  I  mention  this  first,  because 
of  all  the  amiable  and  hopeful  virtues  of  youth  this  is 
first  developed,  and  contains  the  germ  of  every  other. 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  (which  is  the  first 
commandment  with  promise),  that  it  may  be  well  with 
thee,  and  that  thou  mayest  live  long  on  the  earth." 
How  eminently  both  the  precept  and  the  promise  here 
commended  to  us  were  exemplified  in  our  departed 
friend,  you  who  new  him  can  tell.  Although,  indeed, 
in  respect  to  the  number  of  his  years,  we  mourn  his 
early  death,  yet,  in  respect  to  his  amount  of  usefulness, 
he  lived  long  upon  the  earth;  and  but  for  his  filial 
reverence,  this  had  not  been.  Go  back  to  his  early  child- 
hood, and  none  of  you  remember  a  disrespectful  word 
concerning  his  father  or  mother  to  have  passed  his  lips. 
2 


14 

They  know  not,  and  I  presume  that  none  of  you  know, 
an  instance,  since  his  childish  days,  in  which  he  attempt- 
ed to  deceive  them.  Not  only  their  commands,  hut  their 
wishes,  were  sacred  in  his  regard ;  and  this,  not  only 
when  he  was  under  their  eye,  hut  in  their  ahsence.  Far 
off,  in  a  foreign  land,  and  in  years  of  maturity,  it  was 
enough  to  withdraw  him  from  any  fashionable  amuse- 
ment or  youthful  gratification,  to  know  or  believe  that 
his  father,  if  present,  would  wish  him  to  abstain.  •  My 
young  friends,  I  can  not  too  earnestly  commend  his  ex- 
ample, in  this  respect,  to  your  regard.  Such  reverence, 
in  a  son  of  his  father,  is  a  fore-shadowing  of  the  Christ- 
ian's reverence  of  his  God. 

2.  His  accustomed  cheerfulness.  Cheerfulness  beamed 
in  his  face,  thrilled  in  his  voice,  and  diffused  itself  from 
his  buoyant  mind  over  the  circle  of  susceptible  minds 
around  him.  It  was  not  levity ;  it  was  not  frivolity  ; 
and  much  less  was  it  jovial  sensuality.  It  was  good 
humour,  and  often,  on  fitting  occasions,  it  was  playful- 
ness. He  had  a  quick  sense  of  pleasure  from  those 
things  which  God  made  to  give  pleasure,  and  he  loved 
to  interchange  with  others  the  pleasure  that  he  felt. 
This,  no  doubt,  was  founded  partly  in  constitution ;  but 
thousands  are  of  the  same  constitutional  temperament, 
who  yet  are  too  selfish  or  too  anxious,  to  be  cheerful. 
He  was  also  a  favored  child  of  Providence  ;  but  thou- 


15 

sands  on  whom  Providence  lavishes  its  favors,  yet, 
through  discontentment  or  distrust  are  unhappy.  Cheer- 
fulness is  not,  of  course,  a  positive  virtue ;  but  gloomi- 
ness, amidst  the  multitude  of  God's  mercies,  is  a  positive 
sin.  Nor  can  you  conceive  how  much  you  may  add  to 
your  own  and  others  happiness,  how  much  you  may 
lighten  the  burdens  of  life,  and  help  them  to  bear  theirs, 
by  cultivating  the  habit  of  mind  which  you  can  never  fail 
to  associate  with  the  memory  of  our  departed  friend,  the 
disposition  to^enjoy  whatever  in  your  lot  is  to  be  inno- 
cently enjoyed,  and  to  regard  as  lightly  as  you  innocently 
may,  the  evils  that  must  be  endured ;  the  disposition  to 
make  the  best  of  the  present,  and  to  hope,  as  far  as  God 
permits,  for  the  future. 

3.  You  will  remember  his  flow  of  kindness.  The 
cheerfulness,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  consisted  in  no 
small  measure  of  good  nature.  No  malign  affections  or 
envious  feelings  shadowed  his  brow,  or  saddened  his 
heart.  Kindness  was  planted  in  his  nature,  and  over- 
flowed in  his  words  and  deeds.  The  poor  who  were 
around  him  enjoyed  it.  The  servants  who  attended  him 
loved  him  for  it.  The  early  companions  to  whom  he 
rendered  his  little  offices  of  friendship,  attest  it.  Hard 
drinkers  whom  he  labored  to  save  from  ruin  remember  it. 
He  sought  the  happiness  of  all  about  him  as  he  had  oppor- 
tunity, and  in  a  pleasant  way,  in  little  things  as  well  as 
great,  and  in  accommodation  to  their  feelings,  as  well  as 


16 

their  necessities.  For  this  you  loved  him,  and  in  this  I 
exhort  you  to  be  like  him.  We  were  not  made,  each  for 
himself  alone.  We  are  mutually  dependent,  and  an- 
swerable to  our  dependence  are  the  sympathies  dispos- 
ing us  to  mutual  kindness.  Were  these  always  followed, 
under  the  guidance  of  enlightened  reason,  and  the  dic- 
tates of  our  moral  nature,  how  would  they  increase  the 
amount  of  human  happiness,  how  would  they  conform  us 
to  the  image  of  Him,  whose  glory  it  is  to  exercise  loving 
kindness  and  judgment  and  righteousness  jn  the  earth. 
They  are  not  holiness ;  but  under  the  light  and  power  of 
the  gospel,  through  the  Spirit,  they  lead  to  it,  and  with- 
out them  vain  are  all  pretensions  to  it.  "  He  that  loveth 
not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love 
God,  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ?  " 

4.  Sincerity,  also,  is  a  shining  virtue  in  which  he, 
being  dead,yet  speaketh.  I  have  already  said,  that  one 
who  best  knew  him  remembers  no  instance  in  which, 
after  he  was  old  enough  to  act  from  principle,  he  inten- 
tionally deceived  him.  We  all,  I  presume,  may  say  the 
same.  He  made  no  false  pretensions.  He  never  said 
what  he  did  not  mean.  He  would  not  equivocate  to 
hide  a  fault,  or  compass  an  end.  He  was  thoroughly 
honest.  He  was  to  be  trusted  in  any  concern.  And 
how  much  is  this  to  be  said  of  any  one  !  Society  is 
founded  in  confidence,  and  confidence  in  sincerity.  Did 
the  young  men  before  me  know  how  much  their  success 


17 

in  life,  to  say  nothing  of  their  estimation  in  the  sight 
of  God,  must  depend  on  their  sincerity  —  their  incor- 
ruptible integrity — their  so  conducting  themselves  in 
circumstances  of  trial,  that  those  who  know  them  shall 
feel  that  they  are  implicitly  to  be  trusted,  they  would  be 
less  ambitous  than  most  men  are,  of  what  they  call  the 
gifts  of  fortune.  Character  is  the  main  thing.  It  was 
with  Joseph.  It  ^  as  with  David.  It  was  with  Daniel. 
"Come,  ye  children,"  the  voice  >of  wisdom  cries,  "heark- 
en unto  me,  and  I  will  teach  you  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 
What  man  is  he  that  desireth  life  and  loveth  many  days, 
that  he  may  see  good  ?  Keep  thy  tongue  from  evil,  and 
thy  lips  from  speaking  guile." 

5.  His  modesty  was  not  less  distinguished.  You  will 
not  mistake  modesty  for  bashfulness,  the  timidity  that 
would  unfit  you  to  act  as  you  feel,  and  utter  what  you 
know.  Our  lamented  friend  was  remarkably  self- 
possessed,  and  yet  how  very  far  he  was  from  that  im- 
pudent boldness  which  can  not  blush,  and  from  that 
overweening  self-estimation  also  which  thrusts  one  into 
positions  unsuited  to  his  condition  or  his  years!  His 
powers  early  began  to  be  developed  —  some  of  them,  at 
least,  shone  eminently  for  his  years  —  and  they  shone 
amidst  his  youthful  modesty  as  a  diamond  set  in  pearls. 
Some  of  you  remember  him,  while  yet  in  his  minority, 
addressing  us  in  one  of  our  Lyceum  lectures,  on  the 


18 

habits  of  birds.  You  can  not  have  forgotten  what  care- 
ful observation,  what  comprehensive  knowledge,  what 
lively  fancy,  what  amiable  feeling,  and  what  powers  of 
description,  the  lecture  discovered,  and  how  much  it  ex- 
cited our  admiration;  and  none  the  less  because  it  was 
read  with  down-cast  eyes  and  a  trembling  hand.  The 
grace  which  thus  adorned  his  earliest  youth  was  not 
tarnished  in  his  subsequent  life.  As  years  advanced,  he 
could  not  be  insensible  that  his  condition  was  above  the 
common  rank;  but  he  affected  no  superiority  on  that 
account.  Returning  from  abroad,  where  he  had  been 
conversant  with  people  of  rank,  and  received  from  them 
nattering  attentions,  he  was,  no  less  than  before,  conde- 
scending to  men  of  low  estate.  In  his  professional 
course,  rising  at  once  into  eminence  —  known,  applauded 
and  sought  for  almost  throughout  the  country  —  he  yet  re- 
tained his  simplicity  of  character  and  manners  to  the  last. 
I  need  not  dwell  on  these  things.  I  mention  them,  only 
to  remind  you  of  what  you  must  have  observed,  and  per- 
suade you  to  copy  what  you  must  have  admired. 

6.  Nor  was  he  less  remarkable  for  his  choice  of  worthy 
objects  of  pursuit.  From  his  early  years,  he  had  no 
relish  for  low  gratifications.  It  required  no  pains  to 
keep  him  from  the  smoking,  chewing,  drinking  habits 
into  which  so  many  lads  eagerly  run ;  nor  from  the  vul- 
gar profaneness  which  they  are  apt  to  indulge  —  nor 


19 

from  the  places  of  idle  resort  which  many  of  them  so 
unhappily  frequent ;  he  sought  higher  enjoyments,  a 
Christian  home,  useful  books,  and  good  society.  He  had 
an  early  thirst  for  knowledge;  he  read  easily,  rapidly, 
with  discrimination  and  reflection,  and  so  remembered 
what  he  read.  He  studied  the  book  of  nature,  admiring 
it  as  the  book  of  God,  carefully  observing  the  forms  and 
habits  of  beasts  and  birds  and  fishes  and  insects.  He 
treasured  up  his  observations,  and  added  to  his  stores 
from  books.  It  was  his  passion  for  natural  history,  that 
seems  to  have  led  him  to  the  choice  of  a  farmer's  life, 
and  to  the  studies  that  would  best  qualify  him  to  pursue 
it.  His  aim  was  not  to  be  merely  a  farmer,  but  to  carry 
into  the  business  of  a  farm,  and  the  place  in  society 
naturally  connected  with  it,  the  varied  and  comprehen- 
sive knowledge  that  would  make  both  these  pleasant,  im- 
proving and  useful.  For  this  purpose,  he  devoted  his 
winters  to  study,  while  his  summers  —  some  of  them, 
at  least  —  were  spent  in  the  labors  of  a  farm.  Having 
made  a  commendable  proficiency  in  common  learning 
at  home,  he  availed  himself  of  some  of  the  best  advan- 
tages abroad,  in  the  study  of  the  German  and  French 
languages,  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  and  Moral  philo- 
sophy, of  Astronomy,  Law  and  Music,  and  this,  while 
he  thought  only  of  being  a  practical  farmer;  and  with 
this  prospect,  he  spent  his  nineteenth  summer  in  the 


20 

independent  management  and  personal  culture  of  a  part 
of  his  father's  farm.  I  mention  these  things,  not  because 
it  is  to  be  expected,  or  desired,  that  the  young  men  here 
present  should  pursue  exactly  this  course,  but  to  shew 
them  the  noble  aim  of  one  who  was  only  a  few  steps 
before  them  in  the  journey  of  life,  and  while  he  thought 
of  the  same  occupation  with  theirs,  and  to  stimulate 
them  by  his  example  —  though  they  may  not  have  the 
same  advantages  —  to  make  the  best  use  of  such  as  they 
have.  The  result  in  his  case,  you  know.  His  acquisitions 
in  this  country  encouraged  him  to  seek  higher  and  rarer 
acquisitions  abroad ;  and  in  consequence  of  these,  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year,  he  led  the  way  in  this  country  in  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  useful  applications  of  science  to 
practical  purposes  which  the  age  affords.  Providence  may 
not  have  the  same  honor  in  store  for  you  all,  but  its  gifts  are 
not  exhausted.  Worthy  objects  are  not  few,  not  far  off. 
Seek,  and  you  shall  find.  It  was  not  by  a  single,  happy 
choice  alone  that  he  whose  example  now  calls  you  to 
this,  was  what  he  became.  The  useful  and  the  good 
determined  his  general  aims.  I  may  mention,  as  an 
instance,  that  when  he  began  to  be  extensively  known, 
and  tempting  offers  were  made  him  to  a  more  lucrative 
application  of  his  talents  and  acquirements  than  he  had 
proposed,  he  adhered  to  his  original  purpose,  as  being 
the  more  improving  and  useful.  So,  also,  when  he  was 


21 

not  dependent  on  his  earnings  for  support,  he  chose  to 
eat  his  own  bread ;  and  when  a  friend  proposed  to  make 
him  an  honorary  member  of  one  of  our  benevolent  soci- 
eties, he  thought  it  more  honorable  to  be  a  member 
—  as  he  hoped  soon  to  become  —  by  his  personal  contri- 
bution. 

7.  His  choice  of  worthy  objects  led  him  to  untiring 
industry  in  prosecuting  them.  There  is  nothing  great 
without  labor.  Those  who  suppose,  if  any  such  there 
are,  that  Professor  Norton  attained  his  eminence  adven- 
titiously, know  not  his  years  of  study  nor  his  intense 
application;  his  nights,  as  well  as  days,  devoted  to 
study ;  and,  in  connection  with  his  regular  studies,  the 
multitude  of  letters  that  he  wrote,  the  daily  journal 
which  for  twelve  or  fourteen  yeafs  he  kept,  and  the 
stated  contributions  to  periodicals  that  he  made ;  and 
after  his  entrance  on  his  profession,  together  with  all 
these,  his  courses  of  lectures,  his  private  instructions, 
his  public  addresses,  and  his  printed  works.  He  had  his 
recreations ;  he  enjoyed  them.  A  favorite  one  we  knew ; 
but  he  adopted  and  continued  it,  merely  as  a  recreation, 
certainly,  in  his  latter  years,  and  had  he  indulged  him- 
self in  it  more  freely,  might  not  his  invaluable  life  have 
been  prolonged  ?  In  comparison  of  his  industry  with  our 
own,  may  not  the  greater  part  of  us  find  ourselves  re- 
proved ?  How  much  was  accomplished  by  him  in  the 
few  fleeting  years  allotted  him !  He  seems,  indeed,  to 


22 

have  been  quite  clear,  not  only  of  the  absolute  indolence 
but  the  sluggish  action  and  dreamy  thoughtfulness,  in 
which  so  much  of  life  is  ordinarily  wasted.  Earnest  in 
purpose,  strong  in  conception,  exact  in  discrimination, 
and  careful  and  settled  in  his  conclusions,  he  acquired 
rapidly,  he  was  fully  possessed  of  what  he  knew,  he 
wrote  freely  and  much,  and  moved  on  his  ardent  course, 
steadily,  safely,  joyfully.  He  lived,  while  he  lived. 

8.  Exceedingly  to  be  admired  also  was  his  moral  cou- 
rage. It  was  indeed  no  remarkable  proof  of  this,  that 
in  his  boyhood  he  adopted  the  temperance  pledge  ;  nor 
that  while  he  was  in  this  country  he  adhered  to  it;  but  to 
adhere  to  it  in  foreign  countries,  and  in  circles  of  fashion 
and  distinction,  where  it  is  scarcely  known,  or  known 
only  to  be  lightly  regarded,  was  a  trial  of  firmness  which 
it  is  difficult  for  the  greater  part  of  us  duly  to  estimate. 
It  is  common  for  men  pledged  to  temperance  in  this 
country,  on  going  abroad,  to  remove  their  names  from 
the  pledge.  This  our  youthful  friend  would  not  consent 
to  do.  It  would  seem  like  dishonoring  his  early  educa- 
tion. He  was  not  unaware  of  the  trial,  but  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  meet  it,  and  he  fully  sustained  the  resolution. 
At  agricultural  gatherings  and  public  dinners,  with  the 
farmers  of  England  and  Scotland  around  the  table  — 
introduced  to  them  by  his  honored  teacher,  as  a  young 
American  student  and  farmer,  and  called  on  to  join  them 
in  the  customary  glass  —  he  stood  firm  in  his  dissent, 


23 

and  yet  so  quietly  and  modestly  firm  as  to  shew  that  he 
refused,  not  because  he  lightly  esteemed  them,  but 
because  he  could  not  be  faithless  to  himself  or  jthe 
cause  to  which  he  was  pledged.  In  private  circles  as  well 
as  on  public  occasions,  and  at  the  tables  of  the  titled 
and  the  great  as  well  as  at  his  proper  home,  the  habit  of 
his  life  in  this  respect  was  too  sacred  to  be  broken  ;  and 
though  wondered  at,  and  sometimes  remonstrated  with  for 
his  singularity,  his  purpose  was  not  changed.  He  would 
not  obtrude  his  opinions  on  others,  nor  censure  them  for 
habits  which  he  could  not  approve;  and  much  less 
would  he  take  upon  himself  the  office  of  a  reprover  of 
those  whose  age  and  position  in  society  demanded  his 
deference ;  but  neither  would  he  forego  his  privilege  or 
deny  his  accountableness  as  a  servant  of  God.  The 
same  integrity  marked  his  observation  of  the  sabbath. 
Whether  at  home  or  on  a  journey,  he  remembered  the 
day  of  sacred  rest.  In  his  journeys,  he  chose  to  stay 
behind  with  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  while  his  com- 
pany passed  on,  rather  than  enjoy  their  society  in  viola- 
tion of  his  own  convictions ;  and  when  others  around 
him  freely  gave  and  received  visits  of  complaisance,  on 
the  sabbath,  as  on  other  days,  he  could  by  no  means 
sacrifice  his  sense  of  duty  to  customs  of  civility.  Such 
firmness,  however  it  may  temporarily  displease,  it  is 
impossible  to  despise.  There  is,  indeed,  a  self-willed 


24 

pertinacity  which  assumes  its  name,  and  is  as  unlovely 
as  it  is  troublesome ;  but  to  be  firm  on  any  point  because 
so  is  the  will  of  God,  and  to  unite  that  firmness  with  "  the 
meekness  of  wisdom,"  as  did  the  Apostles,  when  forbid- 
den to  preach  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  is  the  highest 
victory  which  man  can  achieve.  And  this  brings  me  to 
remark : 

9.  That  it  was  chiefly  the  piety  of  this  beloved  young 
man  by  which  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.  This  was 
his  crowning  virtue,  and  gave  to  his  other  virtues  their 
highest  excellence,  the  character  of  holiness.  This  raised 
his  filial  reverence  into  godly  fear;  his  constitutional 
cheerfulness  into  spiritual  joy ;  his  natural  kindness  into 
Christian  benevolence  ;  his  honesty  into  godly  sincerity; 
his  modesty  into  humility ;  his  elevation  of  purpose  into 
devotion  to  Christ;  his  habits  of  industry  into  diligence 
in  duty  ;  and  his  firmness  into  conscientious  obedience. 
This  stamped  his  virtues  with  immortality,  and  made  his 
bright  career  on  earth  an  opening  into  unfading  glory  in 
heaven.  "  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man 
as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and  the 
flower  thereof  falleth  away.  But  the  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever,  and  this  is  that  word  which  by  the 
gospel  is  preached  unto  you." 

The  word  of  the  Lord  first  took  perceptible  and  per- 
manent effect  in  his  mind  early  in  the  year  1838,  at  the 


25 

commencement  of  a  revival  of  religion  in  this  town, 
when  he  was  in  his  sixteenth  year ;  but  it  was  not  till 
the  summer  of  1841,  that,  as  he  supposed,  he  truly  and 
heartily  yielded  himself  to  God,  in  the  faith  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  The  sudden  death  of  a  companion  roused 
him  from  his  indecision  to  give  his  mind  to  eternal 
things,  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  soon  resulted  in  his  con- 
version, and  the  following  autumn,  in  his  public  profes- 
sion of  religion,  which  ever  since,  at  home  and  abroad, 
in  private  and  in  public  life,  in  his  early  and  later  rela- 
tions, in  the  even  tenor  of  a  consistent,  Christian  life,  for 
these  eleven  years,  he  has  maintained  and  adorned.  Con- 
versant as  his  studies  led  him  to  be  with  the  laws 
of  nature,  he  did  not  overlook  the  God  of  nature,  and  in 
his  professional  lectures,  he  was  not  forgetful  of  referring 
his  hearers  to  the  manifestations  of  the  Creator,  in  the 
works  of  his  hand,  which  he  led  them  to  examine ;  and 
their  relations  to  him  as  the  objects  of  his  beneficence 
and  the  accountable  subjects  of  his  government. 

When  he  came  to  die,  his  religion  did  not  fail  him. 
Just  entering  upon  a  profession  to  which  he  was  enthusi- 
astically devoted ;  meeting  in  it  with  unlookcd  for  appro- 
bation and  success,  and  seeing  a  boundless  field  of 
research  and  discovery  opening  before  him,  we  do  not 
wonder  that  he  desired  to  live ;  nor  that,  when  he  could 
not  but  know  the  dangerous  nature  of  his  disease,  he 


26 

was  yet  unwilling  to  believe  that  it  would  prove  mortal. 
Until  a  few  days  previous  to  his  death,  his  hopes,  and 
probably  the  tenor  of  his  thoughts,  turned  on  living ; 
still  when  told  plainly  that  it  was  thought  he  would  soon 
die,  he  was  not  discomposed.  "  This  is  sudden,"  he  said, 
"and  is  it  really  so?  does  the  physician  think  so?" 
Being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  said,  "  then  leave 
me  a  little  while  to  myself," — and  closing  his  eyes  he 
seemed  to  give  himself  to  reflection  and  prayer,  till  some 
half  hour  had  passed — when,  turning  himself  to  his  wife 
at  his  bedside,  he  exclaimed — "  glorious  immortality  !" 
and  from  that  moment  he  manifested  no  further  care  for 
life,  or  any  thing  pertaining  to  it,  but  with  the  tenderest 
affection  to  all  about  him,  and  ardent  breathings  after 
heaven,  he  waited  for  his  departure. 

With  two  or  three  reflections  I  shall  conclude. 

1.  The  Providence  of  God  was  remarkably  manifested 
in  leading  on  our  departed  friend  in  his  distinguished 
course.  Though  more  than  most  young  men  addicted  to 
forethought  and  system  and  perseverance  —  his  final 
course  was  altogether  aside  from  any  original  plan  or  de- 
sign of  his  own,  or  any  of  his  friends.  The  first  design 
concerning  him  was  his  education  at  college ;  when  this 
was  abandoned,  it  was,  that  he  should  become  a  farmer ; 
and  when  first  he  went  abroad  to  qualify  himself  as  a 
teacher,  little  did  he,  or  others,  suppose  that  while  yet  in 


27 

his  youth,  he  would  be  so  widely  known  and  esteemed 
both  as  a  teacher  and  an  author.  And  yet,  now  we  see 
that  all  the  steps  in  his  path,  from  his  earliest  years,  tend- 
ed to  this,  as  though  they  were  planned  with  reference 
to  it,  and  prosecuted  with  the  exactest  care.  Well  did 
the  prophet  say:  "O  Lord,  I  know  that  the  way  of  man 
is  not  in  himself.  It  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct 
his  steps."  Well,  too,  does  the  voice  of  wisdom  cry: 
"  Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine  heart,  and  lean  not  to 
thine  own  understanding.  In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge 
him  and  he  shall  direct  thy  paths."  There  is  a  Provi- 
dence in  the  affairs  of  men,  which  we  must  be  blind  not 
to  see,  and  sottish  to  refuse  devoutly  to  acknowledge. 

2.  The  same  Providence  that  conducted  him  in  his 
course  of  life,  must  be  acknowledged  in  its  termination 
by  death.  The  one  of  these  involves  the  other.  There 
could  be  no  divine  hand  in  overruling  the  changes  of  his 
life,  that  did  not  equally  decide  the  last  great  change  in 
his  death.  We  admire  the  goodness  of  the  one.  Let  us 
bow  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  other.  "  The  Lord  reigneth, 
let  the  earth  rejoice.  Clouds  and  darkness  are  around 
about  him :  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habita- 
tion of  his  throne."  "He  giveth  not  account  of  any  of 
his  matters,  and  who  will  say  unto  him,  what  doest  thou?" 
It  is  for  himself  to  explain  the  mysteries  of  his  govern- 
ment, and  for  us  to  wait,  in  submissive  silence,  the  ap- 


29 

pointed  hour, — knowing  that  his  ways  are  right,  and  his 
counsels  wise ;  that  light  is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and 
gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart ;  that  whatever  dark- 
ness may  for  the  present  veil  his  designs,  the  cloud  will 
be  removed ;  it  will  be  seen  and  confessed  that  he  hath 
done  all  things  well. 

Finally,  this  affecting  death  renews  to  us  the  admoni- 
tion so  often  repeated  of  the  vanity  of  man  as  mortal. 
Only  a  few  months  since,  there  was  scarcely  a  young 
man  in  our  country,  whose  condition  the  deceased  would 
have  preferred  to  his  own.  Now,  how  changed,  and  but 
for  that  which  is  above  what  flesh  is  heir  to,  how  vain  to 
him  now  were  the  advantages,  the  acquirements,  the 
fame,  and  the  virtues  themselves,  by  which  he  was  dis- 
tinguished !  Blessed  be  God,  there  is  a  life,  "  unmeasured 
by  the  flight  of  years.  There  is  an  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible, undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away."  There 
is  a  glorious  conqueror,  standing  on  the  ruins  of  two 
hundred  generations,  and  proclaiming,  "I  am  the  re- 
surrection and  the  life :  he  that  believeth  on  me,  though 
he  were  dead  yet  shall  he  live.  Whosoever  liveth  and 
believeth  on  me  shall  never  die."  May  you  all  aspire  to 
that  nobler  life.  May  you  all  believe  in  him  who  holds 
out  to  you  the  heavenly  gift.  Suffer  no  delay;  for  on 
your  immortal  being  hangs  the  dread  alternative  of  eter- 
nal life  or  eternal  death.  Trust  not  to  youth,  to  health, 


29 

to  a  course  of  prosperity  unbroken  in  the  past,  or  to  pros- 
pects yet  brightening  in  the  future.  Think  of  him  who 
had  all  these  to  lean  upon  and  who  now  lies  silent  in  the 
grave.  No,  not  silent ;  for  "  being  dead  he  yet  speaketh ;" 
and  the  accents  are,  "my  days  are  past,  my  purposes 
are  broken  off,  even  the  thoughts  of  my  heart."  "Cease 
ye  from  man,  whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils,  for  wherein 
is  he  to  be  accounted  of? "  "  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for- 
ever; for  in  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength." 
Amen. 


or 

JOHN    PITKIN   NORTON. 

BY 

PROF.  WILLIAM  A.  LARNED, 

OF  YALE  COLLEGE. 


JOHN  P1TKIN  NORTON. 

From  the  Now  EnKlmuler  for  NOT.,  1852. 

Since  the  publication  of  our  last  number,  Yale  College 
has  been  called  to  suffer  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of 
Prof.  Kingsley  and  of  Prof.  Norton.  Our  readers  will 
expect  from  us,  we  presume,  some  account  of  these 
gentlemen,  the  one  of  whom  was  so  well  known  from 
his  labors  of  fifty  years  in  the  cause  of  sound  learning, 
and  the  other  from  the  promising  commencement  of 
labors,  which  bid  fair  to  be  long  protracted  and  extensively 
useful. 

The  death  of  John  Pitkin  Norton  is  one  of  those  events 
of  Divine  Providence,  which  are  designed  as  "  trials  of 
faith,"  and  tests  of  the  infinite  value  of  eternal  hopes. 
In  the  case  of  those  who  are  removed  from  life,  not  un- 
til they  have  completed  their  appropriate  work,  we  mourn, 
but  not  because  we  see  plans  unfinished,  aims  frustrated, 
and  the  unity  of  life  marred  and  broken.  AVe  miss  the 
friendly  greeting,  the  trust  of  well-tried  affection,  the  com- 
munication of  knowledge  and  counsel ;  the  habitual  asso- 
ciations of  our  lives  are  sundered,  and  we  are  saddened  at 
the  natural  suspension,  only  a  suspension  we  may  hope — of 


32 

the  offices  of  love  and  friendship.  Bat  when  those  are 
taken  away  who  have  made  faithful  preparation  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  manhood,  and  have  just  commenced  the 
serious  business  of  life,  with  the  fairest  prospects  of  suc- 
cess, we  mourn  besides  for  plans  broken  off,  labors  un- 
finished, hopes  disappointed,  affections  crushed  in  the 
bloom,  and,  in  this  reversal  of  the  ordinary  course  of  na- 
ture, we  can  only  bow  with  reverence  before  the  mystery 
of  Divine  Providence. 

We  attempt  a  memorial  of  our  friend,  not  alone  from 
personal  considerations,  but  on  account  of  his  pure  moral 
and  Christian  character,  and  also  of  the  service,  which, 
in  his  short  course,  he  rendered  to  his  country,  in  the 
earliest  establishment,  in  our  land,  of  a  Collegiate  School 
of -Agricultural  Chemistry. 

John  Pitkin  Norton  was  born  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  July  19, 
1822.  In  1835,  the  family  returned  to  its  ancient  seat  in 
Farmington,  Conn.,  and  he  there  received  his  early 
education  in  the  well-known  school  of  Simeon  Hart. 
From  an  early  period,  young  Norton  was  a  student  of  na- 
ture. For  his  was  one  of  those  minds,  which  have  in 
their  original  structure,  a  decisive  impulse  towards  a  de- 
finite course  of  action — an  inclination  towards  a  parti- 
cular form  of  development.  This  aptitude,  however, 
was  not  for  the  mere  enjoyment  of  nature,  a  poetic  im- 
pulse simply  ;  it  was  rather  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind, 


33 

which  led  him  to  the  observation  of  the  material  world, 
and  of  the  phenomena  of  animal  and  vegetable  life.  He 
studied  as  well  as  enjoyed — he  reflected  as  well  as  saw. 
This  d  isposition  is  sometimes  misunderstood .  An  inten  se 
hut  quiet  interest,  such  as  youth  of  a  particular  bent  of 
genius  possess,  often  produces  an  indifference  to  studies  out 
of  a  certain  range.  There  is  activity  of  mind  enough  and 
power  enough, but  it  is  not  manifested  in  the  usual  way.  It 
has  been  said  of  several  men  of  great  genius,  that  they  were 
dull  in  youth.  This  we  apprehend  is  a  mistake.  Such  are 
merely  inactive  where  others  are  active ;  the  stream  flows, 
only  not  in  the  usual  channels,  and  all  the  deeper  for 
flowing  by  itself.  That  boy  is  not  inactive,  a  mere  idler, 
who  lies  upon  the  ground  by  the  hour,  watching  the  spider 
spin  its  web,  or  the  insect  wing  its  flight,  or  even  the 
worm  trail  its  way  on  the  slime.  He  is  not  an  idler  who 
follows  the  bee  in  its  industrious  toils,  and  the  birds  in 
their  busy  pleasures,  to  learn  their  ways  of  life.  He  is 
not  an  idler,  who  gathers  the  pebbles  and  the  crystal 
stones,  not  as  playthings  to  be  admired,  but  as  objects  to 
be  arranged,  and  somehow  put  into  classes.  Mr.  Norton 
belonged  to  this  order  of  minds.  He  had  an  original 
genius  for  natural  science ;  he  took  an  absorbing  pleasure 
in  the  observation  of  natural  objects.  We  were  much 
interested  in  an  account  of  his  first  scientific  study, 
which  we  received  from  Theodore  Dwight,  Esq.,  of  New 


34 

York,  who  had  the  direction  of  his  studies  the  first  winter 
he  was  sent  from  home  to  school.  Mr.  Dwight  says : 
"  In  my  first  interview  with  John,  I  found  he  had  a  de- 
cided aversion  to  every  branch  of  study,  especially  Latin 
and  Greek.  I  sought  ibr  some  pursuit  in  which  he  might 
feel  some  interest,  but  went  through  the  whole  range  of 
sciences  and  literature  without  success,  when  at  last  I 
mentioned  mineralogy.  There  I  found  him  alive,  and 
willing  to  answer  questions,  and  I  soon  learned  that  he, 
for  two  years  or  more,  had  appropriated  his  money  to  the 
purchase  of  minerals,  and  had  a  large  collection.  I  in- 
quired anxiously  how  he  had  arranged  them ;  and  he  re- 
plied that  he  had  made  three  attempts  to  arrange  them, 
according  to  their  colors  and  names,  and  had  found  that 
they  could  not  be  classified  by  anybody.  I  assured  him  of 
the  contrary,  and  told  him  that  the  proper  principle  was 
that  of  their  composition.  He  immediately  inquired  how 
any  person  could  know  what  stones  are  made  of.  I  ex- 
plained, in  a  simple  manner,  analysis  and  synthesis,  and 
promised  him  that  he  should  begin  the  next  day  to  de- 
compose minerals,  and  (what  pleased  him  more,  although 
he  did  not  half  believe  it  possible)  compound  and  form 
some  himself."  Henceforth,  there  is  no  want  of  interest 
in  his  studies ;  and  from  the  hour  of  this  conversation, 
he  became  one  of  the  most  hard-working  scholars  of  his 
time.  A  certain  modesty  of  disposition,  and  a  diffidence 


35 

of  himself,  which  was  increased  by  his  inaptitude  to  the 
ordinary  studies  of  the  schools,  had  hitherto  hindered  the 
free,  natural  development  of  his  powers;  and  he  did  not 
get  upon  the  right  track,  till  the  sagacity  of  Mr.  Dwight 
pointed  it  out,  and  set  him  forth  upon  it. 

It  had  been  determined  he  should  be  a  farmer.  It 
was  his  own  choice,  and  his  father  had  readily  acquiesced 
in  it,  although  very  wisely  making  it  a  condition  of  his 
assent,  that  he  should  be  educated  for  that  business.  It 
may  seem  strange  that  we  give  prominence  to  this  cir- 
cumstance. But  a  specific  education  for  the  pursuits  of 
the  agriculturist,  on  a  broad  scale,  was  a  thing  almost 
unknown  at  that  time  in  this  country,  and  if  it  is  more 
common  now,  it  is  in  great  part  owing  to  this  very  ex- 
ample. This  education  was  to  be  no  superficial  one  ;  it 
was  to  be  both  practical  and  theoretical.  The  summers 
were  to  be  spent  in  work,  and  the  winters  in  study.  We 
will  draw  out  the  course  of  his  education  a  little  in  de- 
tail, as  we  think  it  a  very  good  one,  and  it  may  suggest 
valuable  hints  to  others.  The  farming  season  of  1838 
was  spent  with  E.  C.  Delavan,  at  Ballston  Centre,  N.  Y., 
who  had  an  extensive  farm,  worked  by  intelligent  Scotch 
laborers,  with  whom  he  was  employed  almost  constantly. 
The  fall  and  winter  of  1838-39  was  passed  in  Albany, 
studying  French,  mathematics,  music  and  drawing. 
The  working  season  of  1839  was  spent  on  his  father's 


36 

farm  in  Farmington,  and  the  following  winter  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Dwight,  to  which 
we  have  already  referred.  The  next  summer  (1840)  was 
spent  in  Farmington,  in  work  on  the  farm,  and  the  fol- 
lowing winter  (1840-41)  in  New  Haven,  attending  lec- 
tures upon  chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  natural  philoso- 
phy. We  must  not  omit  to  mention  also,  that  he  attended 
the  lectures  of  Dr.  Taylor,  on  theology,  for,  though  it 
is  a  part  of  an  agricultural  education  which  might  be 
omitted,  it  seems  like  going  back  to  a  better  age,  to  be- 
hold the  science  of  theology  brought  within  the  range 
of  the  studies  of  a  well  educated  man.  Mr.  Norton 
made  this  year  his  first  public  effort.  He  delivered  a 
well  written  and  interesting  lecture  before  a  Lyceum,  in 
the  place  of  his  residence,  upon  the  subject  of  birds,  and 
defended  their  cause  so  well,  as  to  secure  the  passage  of 
a,  law,  at  the  next  town-meeting,  for  their  protection. 
The  summer  of  1841  was  spent  as  usual  on  the  farm,  and 
the  winter  (1841-42)  at  New  Haven,  in  the  laboratory 
of  the  Professors  Silliman.  The  next  summer  (1842)  was 
passed  at  home,  and  the  following  winter  (1842-43)  in 
Boston,  where  he  attended  courses  of  lectures  on  chem- 
istry and  anatomy,  and  also  the  lectures  of  Doct.  Harris, 
on  entomology,  and  of  Prof.  Greenleaf,  on  law.  The 
summer  of  1843  was  spent  in  Farmington,  and  this  sea- 
son he  took  the  entire  charge  of  a  portion  of  his  father's 


37 

farm,  trying  the  experiment  of  farming  on  his  own  ac- 
count. The  winter  of  1843-4  was  spent  in  New  Haven, 
again  in  the  Yale  College  laboratory,  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  same  distinguished  teachers. 

The  extensive  course  of  study  which  Mr.  Norton  had 
been  pursuing  for  the  past  six  years,  had  opened  before 
him  a  new  and  wide  field  of  usefulness.  He  felt  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  more  specific  course  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion than  could  be  obtained  in  this  country,  and  he  de- 
termined to  prepare  himself  to  become  an  instructor  in 
Agricultural  Chemistry.  This  was  done  with  no  ambi- 
tious views  of  attaining  to  any  higher  distinction,  but 
solely  with  the  purpose  of  making  himself  more  useful 
to  the  agricultural  community,  whose  interests  he  had 
identified  with  his  own.  Agriculture  was  the  first  pur- 
suit that  strongly  awakened  his  feelings,  and  the  promo- 
tion of  its  interests  was  the  ruling  purpose  of  his  life. 
Rarely  have  the  powers  of  any  individual  been  more  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  one  great  end,  than  were  those  of 
Mr.  Norton  to  agriculture. 

Having  determined  to  prepare  himself  to  give  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture,  he  resolved  .to  make  that  preparation 
as  complete  as  possible.  All  his  plans  in  this  respect 
were  fully  approved  by  his  father,  who  from  the  first  had 
taken  the  most  enlarged  views  on  this  subject.  After 
due  inquiries,  he  decided  to  go  to  Edinburgh,  and  an  ar- 


38 

rangement  was  made  by  Prof.  Silliman  with  Prof.  Johns- 
ton, the  distinguished  professor  of  chemistry,  in  the  la- 
boratory of  the  Agricultural  Chemical  Association  in 
Edinburgh,  to  receive  him  as  a  pupil.  He  left  this  coun- 
try in  the  spring  of  1844,  and  remained  in  Edinburgh 
till  the  spring  of  1846. 

Mr.  Norton  was  well  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the 
valuable  instructions  now  within  his  reach.  He  had 
been  a  diligent  student  for  six  years — a  period  sufficiently 
long  to  have  carried  him  through  a  collegiate  and  almost 
a  professional  course  of  study ;  for  the  interruption  by 
the  labors  of  the  summer,  would  not  amount  to  much 
more  than  the  usual  vacations  in  college  and  professional 
schools.  He  was  quite  well  acquainted  with  the  French 
language,  and  could  read  German  with  ease.  He  had 
enjoyed  the  best  instruction  in  chemistry  which  the 
country  afforded,  and  was,  indeed,  already  a  good  prac- 
tical chemist.  He  felt  too  that  he  was  now  entering  upon 
an  extensive  field  of  usefulness — that  he  was  laboring  in 
the  service  of  his  country — and  that  on  his  return,  he 
would  possess  a  power  for  good  within  his  sphere  which 
would  perhaps  belong  to  jno  other  one  of  his  countrymen. 
He  entered  upon  his  studies,  therefore,  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  He  spent  all  the  working  hours  of  the  day- 
light— from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  in  the 
afternoon — without  interruption,  in  the  laboratory,  while 


39 

the  evening  till  midnight  uniformly,  arid  often  later,  was 
devoted  to  reading  in  French,  to  chemical  studies,  writ- 
ing for  agricultural  journals  at  home,  in  addition  to  the 
journal  which  he  kept  for  many  years,  and  the  long 
family  letter  which  was  weekly  forwarded  to  his  home. 
And  we  hesitate  not  to  say  that  this  correspondence  and 
journal,  if  they  were  to  be  published,  would  make  as 
interesting  and  instructive  a  volume  of  foreign  resi- 
dence, as  any  one  that  has  been  published  by  our  coun- 
trymen. Such  was  the  ardor  with  which  he  prosecuted 
his  chemical  researches,  and  so  closely  did  he  confine 
himself  to  his  single  pursuit,  that  even  the  romantic 
scenery  around  Edinburgh  and  the  neighboring  places, 
famous  in  song  and  story,  could  not  draw  him  from  the 
laboratory.  It  was  not  till  the  arrival  of  a  friend  from 
America,  that  he  visited  the  objects  of  interest  in  Edin- 
burgh and  its  environs.  Nor  did  this  devotion  to  his 
studies  arise  solely  or  mainly  from  the  ambition  of  dis- 
tinction. It  sprang  from  a  higher  principle,  a  principle 
of  duty,  which  ever  controlled  him.  "  It  seems  to  me  a 
duty,"  he  said,  in  writing  to  a  friend,  "  to  keep  one  ob- 
ject in  view — diligently  to  improve  the  extraordinary  ad- 
vantages of  my  situation.  This  can  only  be  done  by 
withdrawing  my  attention  from  other  objects,  and  devot- 
ing every  faculty  to  this  alone.  I  feel  sure  that  I  am  fast 
laying  up  a  store  of  knowledge,  that  under  the  pro- 


40 

violence  of  God,  will  make  me  to  be  of  much  use  in  my 
own  country.  The  field  opens  wider  and  wider  as  I  ad- 
vance, and  I  often  feel  discouraged  at  the  mountain  of 
labors  which  rises  before  me."  These  were  not  idle 
words.  They  meant  all  that  they  express.  We  have 
never  known  the  man  whose  conduct  was  more  governed 
by  a  sense  of  duty. 

These  unremitted  labors  were  not  without  their  results. 
Mr.  Norton  soon  attained  to  great  accuracy  in  his  expe- 
riments, and  his  analyses  could  be  entirely  relied  on  as 
faithfully  made.  He  shunned  no  toil,  he  concealed  no 
mistakes.  If  any  analysis  did  not  come  out  as  it  should 
have  done,  he  kneu  not  the  art  of  conjecturing  what  the 
figures  should  have  been,  but  went  over  with  the  work 
again.  His  progress  was  such,  that  Professor  Johnston 
advised  him  to  prepare  papers  for  the  British  Association, 
which  he  did.  Two  papers  of  his  were  read  at  the  meeting 
of  that  body  in  Cambridge,  and  were  well  received. 
By  the  advice  of  the  same  judicious  instructor  and  friend, 
he  entered  into  a  very  minute  analysis  of  the  oat. 
These  investigations  cost  him  the  labor  of  almost  eighteen 
months,  and  when  they  were  completed,  the  memoir 
was  presented  to  the  Highland  Agricultural  Society,  and 
received  the  prize  of  fifty  sovereigns,  which  it  had  offered 
for  the  best  essay  on  the  subject.  We  can  not  give  to  the 
uninitiated  anything  like  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
labor  expended  upon  these  researches.  We  may  say  in 


41 

general,  using  the  language  of  the  Journal  of  Science,  in 
which  the  memoir  was  republished,  that  "  commencing 
with  the  young  plant,  he  followed  it  through  its  success- 
ive stages  of  growth  and  development  to  its  maturity. 
The  results  are  presented  in  thirty-nine  tables,  containing 
hundreds  of  accurate  and  minute  analyses,  giving  the 
composition  of  the  oat  from  the  different  parts  of  the 
plant,  separately,  viz :  the  leaf  above  and  below,  the 
stalk,  the  knots,  the  grain,  &c.,  besides  the  organic  con- 
stitution of  the  grain  "  This  is  by  far  the  most  thorough 
examination  of  the  oat  which  has  ever  been  made — and 
his  labors  possess  the  advantage  that  subsequent  inquirers 
may  implicitly  rely  upon  them,  and  begin  where  Mr. 
Norton  left  off. 

But  beside  the  scientific  labors  of  the  laboratory,  Mr. 
Norton  made  many  agricultural  excursions  in  company 
with  Prof.  Johnston,  into  different  parts  of  Scotland  and 
England,  in  which  they  examined  the  best  cultivated 
farms  in  the  kingdom.  Mr.  Norton's  personal  experience 
in  farming,  enabled  him  to  turn  these  visits  to  the  great- 
est advantage.  He  also  attended  agricultural  festivals, 
and  was  called  up  for  speeches  at  the  festive  boards. 
Full  accounts  of  these  expeditions  were  published  in  the 
Albany  Cultivator,  of  which  he  was  a  regular  correspond- 
ent during  his  residence  abroad.  His  opportunities  in 
this  respect  were  unsurpassed,  and  the  practical  know- 


42 

ledge  which  he  thus  gained  of  Scotch  and  English  farming, 
he  applied  with  great  judgment  to  the  different  circum- 
stances of  agriculture  in  this  land.  For  the  great 
advantage  accruing  to  him  from  these  expeditions,  he 
was  indebted  to  Prof.  Johnston,  by  whose  means  he  was 
introduced  into  the  society  of  agriculturists,  which 
would  not  usually  be  accessible  to  young  students  from 
abroad.  Indeed,  we  can  not  leave  this  part  of  our  subject, 
without  expressing  the  gratitude  which  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Norton  feel,  and  which  we  know  he  always  felt,  to 
Prof.  Johnston,  for  the  fidelity  with  which  he  directed 
and  watched  over  his  studies,  for  the  kindness  which  he 
manifested  towards  him  in  the  social  relations  of  life,  and 
for  the  interest  which  he  took  in  his  reputation  and  suc- 
cess as  a  man  of  science. 

While  in  Scotland,  Nr.  Norton  worshipped  in  the  Free 
Church,  and  rejoiced  in  the  enthusiasm  and  martyr-like 
spirit,  which  accomplished  that  wonderful  movement. 
He  heard  most  of  the  distinguished  preachers  of  that 
church.  Sunday  was  ever  to  him  a  day  of  enjoyment, 
and  though  a  stranger  to  his  fellow- worshippers,  he  was 
always  present  at  church,  joining  his  voice  with  the 
congregation  in  their  praises  of  God.  Mr.  Norton  returned 
with  a  very  high  estimation  of  the  Scotch  people.  In 
one  respect,  however,  he  found  himself  not  a  little  at 
variance  with  them.  He  had  grown  up  in  the  most  un- 


43 

qualified  observance  of  the  strictest  temperance  pledge, 
and  it  is  not  known  that  he  ever,  except  as  a  child,  tasted 
any  alcoholic  liquors.  He  also  had  been  trained  to  the 
early  New  England  strictness,  in  keeping  holy  the  sabbath 
day.  In  his  various  excursions  and  visits,  his  principles 
on  each  of  these  points  were  severely  tried,  but  in  no 
single  instance  did  he  in  the  least  degree  deviate  from 
them.  Nor  was  this  with  him  a  matter  of  singularity  or 
a  proud  defiance  of  public  sentiment.  It  cost  him,  on  the 
contrary,  as  appears  from  frequent  reference  to  it  in  his 
letters,  a  very  great  sacrifice  of  feeling.  But  it  was  a 
question  of  duty,  and  he  firmly  did  what  he  thought  to  be 
right.  And  this  was  not  without  its  reward,  for  he  after- 
wards had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  example 
h^l  a  beneficial  influence  in  two  or  three  particular  cases. 
But,  universally,  Mr.  Norton  was  a  strictly  conscientious 
man,  and  the  severity  of  his  daily  studies  was  never 
permitted  to  interfere  with  his  religious  duties. 

Mr.  Norton  returned  to  this  country  in  the  spring  of 
1846,  having  first  made  a  flying  visit  to  the  continent 
with  reference  to  pursuing  his  studies  in  some  one  of  the 
celebrated  laboratories  there. 

On  Mr.  Norton's  return  to  this  country,  it  was  thought 
important  to  secure  the  services  of  so  able  and  valuable 
a  man  to  Yale  College.  Professor  Silliman,  Sen.,  with 
his  usual  promptness  in  the  cause  of  science,  took  the 


44 

matter  in  hand,  and  appearing  before  the  corporation,  at 
their  annual  meeting,  at  commencement,  in  1846, 
presented  the  importance  of  having  such  a  professorship 
in  some  way  connected  with  the  college.  This  proposal 
was  made  at  a  most  fortunate  time.  It  had  long  been 
the  wish  of  the  college  officers  to  have  a  department,  in 
which  some  of  the  collegiate  studies,  such  as  philosophy, 
philology,  pure  mathematics,  and  the  like,  might  be 
prosecuted  by  graduates  under  systematic  instruction, 
and  in  which  also,  not  only  graduates,  but  others  not 
graduates,  who  should  be  properly  qualified,  might  be 
trained  to  fulfill  in  a  manner  creditable  to  the  country, 
the  office  of  the  civil  engineer,  of  the  scientific  mirier  and 
geologist,  of  the  scientific  agriculturist,  and  the  like ; 
thus  furnishing  society  with  a  body  of  highly  educated 
men,  in  its  various  departments,  and  introducing  in  fact, 
new  liberal  professions  among  the  learned  professions. 
This  movement  in  behalf  of  the  physical  department,  fell 
in  with  this  long  cherished  desire ;  the  matter  was  dis- 
cussed on  general  principles ;  and  from  this  discussion 
arose  what  has  since  been  called,  The  Philosophical 
Department  of  Yale  College.  As  we  regard  this  movement 
one  of  great  importance  to  the  college,  and  to  the  country, 
and  as  Mr.  Norton  was  the  founder  and  architect  of  one 
of  the  most  important  branches  in  this  department,  we 
have  thought  it  best  to  put  on  record  all  the  documents 
relating  to  this  subject. 


45 

The  first  document  is  the  resolution  of  the  corporation, 
establishing  two  new  professorships,  passed  August  19, 
1846: 

WHEREAS,  it  has  been  represented  to  this  corporation,  that  a  benefactor 
of  the  college  proposes  to  give  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  endowment 
of  a  Professorship  of  Agricultural  Chemistry,  and  of  Vegetable  and 
Animal  Physiology,  provided  that  twenty  thousand  dollars  be  raised  for 
that  purpose: 

Resolved,  That  there  be  established  in  this  college,  a  Professorship  of 
Agricultural  Chemistry  and  of  Vegetable  and  Animal  Physiology,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  instruction  to  graduates  and  others  not  members  of  the 
undergraduate  classes:  and  that  the  corporation  will  now  proceed  to 
elect  a  professor  of  those  branches  of  science,  that  while  efforts  to 
complete  the  endowment  are  in  progress,  he  may  devote  himself  to  studies 
preparatory  to  his  entering  on  the  duties  of  that  office — it  being  under- 
stood and  provided  that  the  support  of  this  professor  is  in  no  case  to  be 
chargWible  to  the  existing  funds  or  resources  of  the  college. 

Resolved,  That  there  be  also  established  a  Professorship  of  Practical 
Chemistry,  1'or  the  purpose  of  giving  instruction  to  others  than  members 
oitfie  undergraduate  classes,  in  respect  to  the  application  of  chemistry, 
and  the  kindred  sciences,  to  the  manufacturing  arts,  to  the  exploration  of 
the  resources  of  the  "country,  and  to  other  practical  uses;  and  that  a 
professor  be  now  appointed  to  that  office,  whose  compensation,  till  other 
provision  can  be  made,  shall  be  derived  exclusively  from  fees  for  instruc- 
tion, and  for  other  services. 

Resolved,  That  President  Day  and  Professors  Silliman,  Kingsley, 
Olmsted,  Woolsey  and  Salisbury,  be  a  committee  to  report  at  the  next 
annual  meeting  of  the  corporation,  or  at  any  intervening  meeting  which 
may  be  convenient,  their  opinion  of  the  expediency  of  arranging  under  a 
distinct  department  of  the  university,  those  courses  of  instruction  which 
are  or  may  be  given  to  others  than  members  of  the  undergraduate  classes, 
and  which  are  not  included  in  the  departments  of  theology,  law  and 
medicine,  and  that  if  in  their  opinion  such  a  department  is  expedient, 
they  report  such  arrangements  and  regulations  as  may  be  requisite  for 
the  full  organization  of  the  department. 


46 

I 

These  two  professorships  were  filled  hy  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Norton  to  the  former,  and  of  Mr.  Benjamin 
Silliman,  Jr.,  to  the  latter.  Instruction  in  these  profess- 
orships was  postponed  till  the  year  following.  We  may 
remark  that  Mr.  Norton  did  not  accept  a  professorship  in 
Vegetable  and  Animal  Physiology,  although  his  name 
appears  as  professor  of  those  branches  in  the  college 
catalogue  of  that  year. 

We  give  next  the  report  of  the  committee,  whose  ap- 
pointment is  recorded  in  the  preceding  resolution.  It 
was  presented  to  the  corporation,  August  19th,  1847,  and 
accepted : 

"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  corporation  of  Yale  College,  to 
consider  whether  it  is  expedient  to  form  a  fourth  department  in  this  col- 
lege, for  the  instruction  of  other  than  undergraduate  students,  beg^rave 
to  report: 

That  in  their  judgment  it  is  expedient  to  form  such  a  department,  and 
that  for  several  reasons.  Some  of  these  reasons  are : 

1.  That  there  is  a  demand  on  the  part  of  our  graduates  and  others, 
for  instruction  in  particular  lines  beyond  what  is  wanted,  or  can  be  given 
in  the  college  course. 

2.  We   have   several   endowed   scholarships   for  graduates,   and  are 
likely  to  have  more;  and  the  advantages  arising  from  these  endowments, 
will  be  greatly  increased  by  having  instructions  provided  for  the  scholars 
upon  them,  and  not  leaving  them  to  themselves. 

3.  From  time  to  time  new  branches  of  study  are  called  for  by  the 
public;  which  if  introduced  into  our  undergraduate  course,  would  greatly 
crowd  it  and  interfere  with  its  object  as  a  course  of  training  for  the  mind. 

4.  It  is  believed  that  students  resident  here  for  the  purpose  of  pursu- 
ing a  specific  branch  will  be  industrious,  and  will  have  a  good  effect  in 
promoting  the  spirit  of  study  among  the  undergraduates. 


47 

| 

5.  We  have  at  present  the  materials  of  such  a  department  here  on  the 
ground.  It  is  believed  by  your  committee,  that  some  system  introduced 
into  them,  will  greatly  add  to  their  usefulness. 

Your  committee  being  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  reporting  regula- 
tions for  the  organization  of  said  department,  should  it  be  judged  ex- 
pedient to  form  one,  beg  leave  to  report  the  following : 

1.  There  shall  be  a  fourth  department  of  instruction  for  other  than 
undergraduate  students,  who  are  not  in  the  departments  of  theology, 
medicine,  and  law,   to   be  called  the    Department   of  Philosophy  and 
the    Arts.       The    department    is    intended    to    embrace    philosophy, 
literature,  history,  the   moral   sciences  other  than  law  and  theology, 
the  natural  sciences  excepting  medicine,  and  their  application  to  the  arts. 

2.  Instruction   in  this  department  may  be  given  by  professors  not 
belonging  to  the  others,  by  professors  in  the  academical  departments, 
and  by  such  others  as  the  president  and  fellows  may  approve.     But  no 
second  course  of  lectures  on  the  same  branch  may  be  given,  without  the 
consent  of  the  previous  lecturer. 

3.  All  graduates  of  this  or  other  colleges,  and  all  other  young  men 
of  fair  moral  character,  may  be  allowed  to  pursue  such  studies  included 
in  this  department  as  they  may  desire.     But  dismissed  students  of  this 
or  other  colleges,  and  undergraduate  students,  without  express  leave  of 
the  academical  faculty,  shall  not  enjoy  the  privileges  of  this  department. 

4.  The  instructors  in  this  department  may  make  such  arrangements 
as  it  respects  remuneration  for  their  instructions,  as  they  may  think 
proper. 

5.  The  faculty  of  the  department  shall  consist  of  the  president,  and 
such  professors  as  are  actually  engaged  in  the  instruction  of  the  depart- 
ment ;  and  regulations  passed  by  the  faculty,  and  approved  by  the  cor- 
poration, may  be  the  regulations  of  the  department." 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  was  no  provision  made  for 
conferring  degrees  in  this  department,  as  is  done  in  the 
departments  of  law  and  medicine.  This  was  postponed 
for  farther  consideration.  We  will  here  anticipate  the 
course  of  events,  and  present  the  doings  of  the  corpora- 


48 

"41 

tion  in  establishing  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy, 
in  this  department.  Through  the  influence  and  exertions 
of  Professor  Norton,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the 
corporation  for  the  establishment  of  such  a  degree,  at 
their  meeting  in  July,  1851.  A  committee,  consisting  of 
President  Woolsey,  Dr.  Day,  Professor  Kingsley,  and 
Professor  Norton,  was  appointed  to  confer  upon  this 
subject,  and  to  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting.  The 
following  is  the  report : 

The  committee  appointed  last  year  to  prepare  rules  for  giving  degrees 
in  this  department,  if  they  should  deem  the  giving  of  such  degrees 
expedient,  report  the  following  rules : 

1.  Students  in  this  department  of  the  age  of  twenty  one  years,  who 
have  resided  at  the  college  two  years,  and  have  pursued  their  studies 
for  nine  months  in  each  year,  may  receive  on  examination  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy. 

2.  The  examination  shall  embrace,  at  least,  three  branches  of  study, 
and  a  certificate  of  the  examiners  must  be  produced  to  the  effect,  that 
the  examination  in  each  branch  has  been  satisfactory. 

3.  This  examination  in  the  case  of  students  in  the  physical  sciences, 
shall  embrace  two  departments  of  physicz.1  or  mathematical  science,  and 
either  the  French  or  German  language. 

The  fee  for  graduation  shall  be  the  same  as  for  Bachelors  of  Arts,  or 
Bachelors  of  Laws,  whereupon,  voted  to  adopt  the  foregoing  as  rules, 
under  which  degrees  in  this  department  shall  be  given. 

In  the  consideration  of  this  subject,  the  committee  had 
the  advantage,  it  is  proper  to  remark,  of  the  experience 
of  Harvard  and  Brown,  where  degrees  of  this  kind  had 
already  been  established.  The  degrees  were  conferred 


49 

at  Yale,   for  the  first  time,   at  the  commencement,  in 
July,  of  the  present  year. 

We  would  call  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  two  or 
three  points  in  the  establishment  of  this  new  department 
in  the  college. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  put  upon  the  same  basis  as  the 
professional  schools  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine, 
and  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  fourth  jrrofessional  school.  It 
was  intentionally  separated  from  the  college  proper,  or 
the  academical  course  of  instruction.  The  principle, 
laid  down  in  the  reports  to  the  corporation,  written  by 
President  Day  and  Professor  Kingsley,  on  the  subject  of 
the  study  of  the  classics,  that  a  collegiate  education  is 
merely  a  preparation  for  a  professional  education,  a 
general  course  of  study  fitting  the  student  for  any  specific 
course  which  his  chosen  pursuit  of  life  may  require,  and 
that  the  two  should  not  be  intermingled,  was  strictly 
observed.  Pains  were  taken  not  to  introduce  any  partial 
or  half-way  system  of  education  into  the  four  years 
collegiate  course.  It  was  hoped,  on  the  one  hand,  that 
there  would  be  some,  as  there  have  been,  who  would 
become  professional  scholars  in  the  departments  of 
philology,  philosophy,  mathematics  and  the  like ;  and, 
on  the  other,  that  there  would  be  a  large  number  of 
graduates,  who  would  prepare  themselves,  by  a  strictly 
professional  course  of  instruction,  for  those  pursuits  of 


50 

life,  other  than  theology,  law,  and  medicine,  which 
require  a  peculiar  education.  This  has  been  the  case  to 
some  extent,  and  the  tendency  in  that  direction  is 
increasing.  It  is  beginning  to  be  felt  that  college 
education,  in  the  discipline  of  the  powers  and  the 
balancing  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind  which  it  gives, 
not  only  does  not  disqualify,  but  lays,  in  general,  the 
best  foundation,  for  the  after  education  of  the  scientific 
farmer,  of  the  enlightened  merchant,  and  of  men  in  the 
various  departments  of  active  life,  which  manufactures, 
rail  roads,  mining,  and  the  like,  open  to  the  educated. 

In  the  second  place,  the  establishment  of  this  new 
department  recognized  the  fact,  that  there  are  very 
many  in  the  community,  who  for  various  reasons,  can 
not  go  through  with  the  preparatory  studies  in  a 
collegiate  course,  and  was  intended  to  give  such  the  best 
opportunities  possible  for  their  professional  education. 
The  age  (twenty  one)  which  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Philosophy  requires,  shows  that  it  was  regarded  by  the 
corporation  as  a  testimonial  of  a  completed  preparation 
for  the  active  duties  of  life — as  in  the  case  with  the 
degrees  in  law  and  medicine. 

Finally,  in  the  institution  of  this  new  department,  the 
corporation  of  the  college  proceeded  with  cautious  steps, 
and  with  a  wise  foresight  of  the  necessities  of  education 
in  our  land.  Schools  of  physical  science  might  be  dis- 


51 

sociated  from  the  university,  as  is  sometimes  done.  We 
think,  however,  that  in  connecting  the  departments  of 
agricultural  chemistry,  of  chemical  analysis,  and  of 
civil  engineering,  with  the  general  department  of 
philosophy,  and  making  the  whole  one  of  the  pro- 
fessional schools  connected  with  the  college,  the 
corporation  have  acted  with  the  wisdom  which  has 
uniformly  characterized  their  proceedings.  It  places 
the  interests  of  the  higher  education  of  our  land  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  will  give  to  it  an  elevated  and  liberal 
character.  In  all  these  views  of  the  corporation  Prof. 
Norton  fully  acquiesced.  Indeed,  his  own  education, 
(of  which  the  corporation  had  expressed  their  estimate, 
by  conferring  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts,)  had  been  of  too  liberal  a  kind — in  point  of  time 
equal  to  the  full  academical  and  professional  course,  and 
in  point  of  acquisition  and  discipline  not  inferior  to  that 
of  our  first  scholars — to  permit  him  to  wish  for  a  low 
standard.  It  was  entirely  accordant  with  his  wishes, 
that  the  requisitions  for  the  degree  in  this  department 
were  made  high. 

Mr.  Norton  returned  to  Europe  in  the  fall  of  1846,  and 
entered  the  laboratory  of  Mulder,  at  Utrecht.  His 
progress  here  was  rapid  and  satisfactory.  He  went 
forward  in  his  analyses  with  somewhat  of  the  confidence 
of  a  master,  and  he  frequently  speaks  in  his  letters,  with 


52 

enthusiasm,  of  his  "  beautiful  results."  He  pursued  his 
researches  here  with  the  same  laborious  diligence  as  at 
Edinburgh,  often  being  in  the  laboratory  twelve  or 
fourteen  hours  a  day,  and  reserving  the  hours  of  the 
night,  till  after  midnight,  for  the  study  of  German  and 
Dutch,  for  writing  for  the  Cultivator,  and  for  his 
extensive  correspondence  with  his  family  and  friends. 
He  was  again  very  fortunate  in  his  teacher.  Mulder 
took  a  great  interest  in  his  success,  and  devised  and 
forwarded  useful  plans  of  study  for  him.  During  his 
residence  there,  he  made  an  agricultural  excursion 
through  North  Holland,  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
practice  of  farming  in  that  region.  He  returned  in  July, 
1847,  having  been  with  Mulder  nine  months. 

Mr.  Norton  had  now  completed  his  education,  and 
was  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  serious  business  of  life. 
He  commenced  his  duties  as  professor  in  the  fall  of 
1847.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  P.  Marvin,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  December  of  the  same  year,  and 
having  the  means  of  living  in  a  liberal  and  elegant 
manner,  soon  became  a  householder,  and  took  his  part 
in  all  the  duties  of  social  life.  Universally  esteemed  in 
society,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  uncommonly 
happy  in  his  own  home,  he  began  life  with  the  fairest 
prospects. 

The  philosophical   department,    as  we    have    already 


53 

remarked,  embraces  several  branches  of  study.  Most  of 
these  had  for  some  years  previous,  been  more  or  less 
pursued  by  a  few  of  the  graduates  of  the  college,  and  by 
others.  Some  had  studied  philology,  philosophy,  and 
mathematics;  there  had  been  several  scholars  in  the 
laboratory.  The  only  effect  of  the  establishment  of  the 
new  department  as  to  these,  was,  to  give  more  system 
to  the  instruction.  There  were  no  new  professorships  in 
them.  The  professorship  of  practical  chemistry  was  a 
new  one,  and  would  have  become  an  important  depart- 
ment, had  not  Prof.  Silliman,  Jr.,  been  early  called  away 
to  a  wider  field,  in  the  Medical  College,  at  Louisville, 
Ky.  We  shall,  therefore,  limit  our  subsequent  remarks 
to  the  single  professorship  of  agricultural  chemistry. 
Indeed,  the  philosophical  department,  so  far  as  it  was 
new,  rested  entirely  upon  that  professorship. 

We  are  to  speak  now  of  the  work  which  he 
accomplished,  in  the  few  years  of  manhood — a  little 
less  than  five  years — which  were  allotted  to  him.  The 
department  of  Agricultural  Chemistry  was  to  be  created. 
Tt  was  new  in  the  country.  It  was  doubtful  whether 
the  public  sentiment  was  strong  enough  to  support  it. 
The  external  resources  for  such  an  undertaking  were 
sufficiently  humble.  The  professorship  was  without  a 
salary,  and  no  better  laboratory  could  be  furnished  than 
the  wooden  house  on  the  college  grounds,  formerly 


54 

occupied  by  President  Dwight,  and  afterwards  by 
President  Day.  But  Professor  Norton  was  well  fitted 
for  the  work  he  had  undertaken.  His  acquaintance  with 
the  operations  of  the  farm,  gained  by  personal  experience, 
his  good  sense  and  sound  judgment,  and  his  simple  and 
gentlemanly  bearing,  won  the  regard  of  the  farming 
community ;  and  he  took  unwearied  pains,  through 
addresses,  lectures,  more  formal  treatises,  and  numerous 
publications  in  agricultural  journals,  to  disseminate 
elevated  views  of  the  necessity  of  scientific  knowledge 
to  the  farmer.  His  influence  was  extensively  felt,  and 
was  becoming  stronger  every  year.  Within  the  school, 
the  more  immediate  sphere  of  his  labors,  his  influence 
was  equally  great.  He  was  a  most  admirable  instructor. 
His  hopeful,  joyous,  sympathetic  disposition,  his  great 
equanimity,  his  pleasant,  familiar  manner,  his  quiet 
humor,  rendered  his  presence  in  the  laboratory  always 
agreeable  to  the  scholars,  while  his  interest  in  their 
studies  and  welfare  awakened  a  strong  personal  attach- 
ment. Although  discouraged  at  his  first  attempts,  he 
was  fast  becoming  one  of  our  best  lecturers.  He  had 
firm  possession  of  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired,  and 
was  thus  able  to  give  precise  and  definite  information. 
His  natural  opposition  to  vain  show  kept  him  from  the 
folly  of  professedly  fine  speaking  and  rhetorical  decla- 
mation, while  the  deep  interest  he  felt  in  his  subject, 


55 

led  him  to  communicate  all  the  knowledge  possible  in 
the  hour,  and  by  perspicuity  of  style  and  skill  of  arrange- 
ment to  make  it  the  most  available  to  the  student.  We 
have  the  testimony  of  the  best  scholars  that  they 
attended  no  lectures  where  they  got  more  information. 
The  number  of  scholars  the  first  year  was  small,  but  it 
each  year  increased,  till  at  last  the  experiment  of  the 
school  was  decided,  a  new  department  of  professional 
study  in  the  university  was  created,  and  a  liberal  and 
scientific  pursuit  opened  to  the  young  men  of  our 
country.  And  it  is  due  to  his  memory  to  say,  that 
during  these  five  years  of  incessant  toil,  he  received  no 
salary  whatever,  and  that  the  remuneration  from  tuition, 
after  paying  necessary  expenses,  would  not  amount  to 
the  wages  of  a  day  laborer.  At  the  same  time  he 
had  been  offered  a  foundation  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  in  one  of  the  large  colleges  of  the  country,  with 
a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars,  if  he  would  devote 
himself  to  chemistry  in  its  application  to  the  arts ;  and 
from  time  to  time  other  lucrative  places  were  pressed 
upon  him.  He  however  regarded  the  interests  of 
agriculture  as  paramount  to  all  others,  and  was  not  to 
be  diverted  from  his  devotion  to  them.  He  had  chosen 
Yale  College  as  the  best  place  for  the  establishment  of 
such  a  school  as  he  was  desirous  of  founding ;  he  had 
there  principally  received  his  education,  and  he  was 


56 

deeply  interested  in  its  welfare.  Indeed,  when  we 
consider  how  much  he  gave  up  in  rejecting  the  large 
salaries  which  were  offered  elsewhere,  and  how  much 
he  expended  from  his  own  resources  in  the  five  years  of 
his  unpaid  labors  in  the  institution,  amounting  of  course 
to  many  thousand  dollars ;  and  his  generous  bequest, 
made  within  a  few  hours  of  his  death,  of  all  the 
apparatus  of  the  laboratory,  together  with  the  books 
and  other  articles  (valued  at  more  than  $2000),  we 
place  him  prominently  among  those  benefactors  who, 
besides  their  services,  their  scientific  and  literary  reputa- 
tion, and  their  lives,  have  given  most  generous  donations 
to  the  college. 

But  his  instruction  in  the  laboratory  was  only  a  small 
part  of  his  labors.  His  publications  were  numerous, 
and  of  permanent  value.  He  was  a  frequent  writer  for 
agricultural  journals.  He  had  been  a  more  or  less  fre- 
quent writer  for  the  Albany  Cultivator  from  1844,  but  in 
1850  he  commenced  a  new  series  of  letters,  which,  the 
editor  says,  constitutes  "  one  of  the  chief  attractions  of 
the  Cultivator."  He  also  delivered  numerous  addresses 
before  agricultural  societies,  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  Eight  or  nine  of  these  have  been  published. 
His  last  public  effort  was  the  introductory  to  the  course 
of  lectures,"  at  the  opening  of  the  University  of  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  in  1851.  All  these  are  written  with  perspicuity, 


57 

and  contain  much  valuable  information.  But  his  most 
important  work  is,  his  Elements  of  Scientific  Agriculture. 
This  essay  was  written  for  the  prize  offered  by  the  New 
York  State  Agricultural  Society,  and  was  successful.  It 
is  a  most  admirable  treatise.  We  said,  when  it  was  first 
published,  that  it  deserved  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
every  farmer  in  the  land,  and  we  think  still  it  is  the  best 
treatise,  for  the  object  it  had  in  view,  which  has  ever 
been  written.  The  more  it  is  examined,  the  more  its 
value  will  appear.  His  last  work  was  his  edition  of  Ste- 
phens's  Farmer's  Guide,  to  which,  by  the  particular 
desire  of  the  Edinburgh  publishers,  the  Messrs.  Black- 
wood,  he  added  notes  and  an  appendix,  which  would  of 
themselves  make  a  small  volume,  and  which  much  in- 
creased the  value  of  the  original  work.  We  most  fully 
agree  with  the  editor  of  the  Cultivator,  that  Professor 
Norton  was,  "  the  most  practical  agricultural  writer  and 
thinker  of  the  present  time,  and  that  his  efforts  promised 
more  permanently  beneficial  results  than  those  of  any 
other  man."  Nor  was  his  more  strictly  scientific  studies 
neglected,  though,  judging  it  important,  first  of  all,  to 
awaken  an  interest  in  such  studies  by  the  dissemination 
of  agricultural  views,  founded  on  science,  he  had  not 
devoted  so  much  time  to  this  branch  of  his  department 
as  he  would  afterwards  have  done.  What  he  did  pub- 
lish, however,  was  valuable.  We  mention,  Researches 


and  Observations  on  the  Potato  Disease,  published  in 
the  Journal  of  Science,  vol.  ii,  291;  iv,  70;  On  the 
Proteine  Bodies  of  Peas  and  Almonds,  published  in 
the  same  Journal,  vol.  v,  22 ;  On  the  Value  of  Soil 
Analysis,  and  the  points  to  which  special  attention 
should  be  directed,  read  before  the  American  Association 
at  Albany,  August,  1851,  and  published  in  their  proceed- 
ings. In  this  paper,  he  was  aided  by  William  J.  Craw, 
first  assistant  in  his  laboratory.  This  was  his  last  con- 
tribution to  science,  and  the  elevated  views  which  it 
contains  of  the  high  office  of  the  scientific  man,  in 
relation  to  agriculture,  only  make  more  manifest  the  loss 
science  has  suffered  in  his  death. 

But  we  draw  nigh  the  closing  scene.  The  session  of 
1851  was  the  most  prosperous  one  his  school  had  en- 
joyed, and  it  was  now  made  certain  that  a  large 
chemical  school  would  grow  up  under  his  auspices.  At 
the  sjame  time,  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  projected 
University  of  Albany,  in  which  agricultural  chemistry 
was  to  have  a  prominent  place,  and  agreed  to  deliver  a 
course  of  lectures  in  that  city,  on  that  subject.  Every 
thing  was  now  prosperous  with  him.  Useful,  honored 
and  beloved,  he  enjoyed  the  present,  and  saw  before  him 
an  equally  honorable  and  useful  future.  But,  alas!  his 
days  were  numbered,  and  he  was  approaching  the  grave. 
On  his  first  journey  to  Albany,  he  spit  a  little  blood  in 


59 

the  cars.  Thinking  little  of  it,  he  gave  his  lecture  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  He  raised  a  little  blood  several 
times  afterwards;  at  last,  the  hemorrhage  became  so 
great,  as  to  cause  anxiety.  A  council  of  physicians  was 
called,  who  pronounced  the  case  alarming,  though  not 
hopeless,  and  advised  a  sojourn  in  a  warmer  climate. 
He  went  with  his  brother  to  Florida,  and  there  some- 
what recovered.  But  on  his  way  home  he  took  the  mea- 
sles in  the  city  of  Washington,  and  was  much  worn  by 
the  attack.  On  his  return  to  New  Haven,  he  looked 
better.  He  continued  improving  somewhat  through  the 
summer.  He  himself,  as  usual,  was  hopeful,  though 
friends  were  fearful.  He  was  able  to  do  a  little.  His  last 
public  labor  was  conducting  an  examination  of  several 
of  his  scholars  who  were  candidates  for  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Philosophy.  It  was,  perhaps,  too  much  for 
him,  but  he  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  matter,  as  it  was 
the  first  time  of  conferring  degrees  in  that  department. 
His  last  act  in  the  service  of  his  school,  was  indeed  all 
that  remained  to  its  complete  establishment,  as  an 
institution  giving  both  the  reality  and  the  recognized 
title  of  a  professional  education.  About  commence- 
ment, he  was  seized  with  a  violent  hemorrhage  — 
recovered  somewhat  —  went  to  his  father's  in  Farming- 
ton —  and  there  died,  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family. 
But  how  did  he  die  ?  How  endured  he  to  relinquish 


60 

his  promising  plans  of  future  usefulness,  and  quench 
these  hopes  in  death  ?  How  endured  he  to  leave  the 
home  of  affection,  filled  with  every  earthly  hliss  ?  He 
resigned  them  all  cheerfully,  even  exultingly.  When 
informed  at  Albany,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day,  that 
his  case  might  terminate  fatally,  he  slept  that  night  as 
soundly  as  if  he  had  been  told  he  would  soon  be  well 
again ;  and  when  his  wife,  thinking  he  must  have  mis- 
understood the  decision  of  the  physicians,  asked  him  if 
he  knew  what  the  physicians  had  said,  he  replied  that 
he  did  —  it  was  the  will  of  God,  and  he  would  do  what 
was  best.  When  again,  twenty-four  hours  before  his 
death,  the  same  faithful  friend  broke  to  him  the  message 
from  his  physician,  that  he  had  but  few  hours  to  live,  he 
said,  this  is  sudden,  and  begged,  as  his  head  felt  con- 
fused, to  be  left  to  himself  a  little  while.  He  closed  his 
eyes,  and  continued  in  prayer  and  meditation  for  perhaps 
half  an  hour,  and  then  opened  them,  exclaiming,  "  O 
glorious  immortality:  all  is  peace;  "  and,  from  this  mo- 
ment, spake  of  his  departure  with  all  the  cheerfulness  of 
one  who  was  about  to  set  out  on  a  pleasant  journey. 
On  Sunday  morning,  the  day  of  his  death,  contrary  to 
the  expectation  of  the  family,  who  supposed  they  had 
taken  their  last  earthly  leave  of  him,  he  opened  his  eyes, 
which  beamed  with  their  wonted  animation  and  cheer- 
fulness, and  he  spoke  to  them  all  again  with  a  kind  of 


fil 

heavenly  composure,  and  then  fell  "on  sleep."  lie  died 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1852,  aged  30  years. 

Although  in  the  account  of  his  life,  we  have  indicated 
the  principal  traits  in  the  character  of  Professor  Norton, 
we  wish,  for  the  sake  of  the  example,  to  dwell  upon 
them  a  little  longer. 

His  mind  was  characterized  by  strong  powers  of  per- 
ception and  observation,  by  the  capacity  of  long  con- 
tinued attention,  and  by  sound  practical  judgment.  He 
possessed  in  combination  many  of  the  qualities  which 
belonged  to  his  distinguished  progenitors,  Governor  John 
Trcadwell  and  Senator  Timothy  Pitkin.  He  took  liberal 
and  comprehensive  views.  His  opinions  on  all  subjects 
were  judicious.  There  was  an  uprightness  of  mind 
which  kept  him  from  being  misled  by  prejudice  or  fanci- 
ful speculations.  For  the  same  reason,  whatever  he 
undertook  turned  out  well.  He  had  no  useless  know- 
ledge ;  he  wasted  no  time  in  chance  wanderings  over  the 
field  of  science ;  he  studied  with  definite  and  well 
matured  aims.  There  was  also  a  certain  joyous  activity 
of  mind,  which  made  hard  study  in  his  favorite  pursuits 
a  positive  delight.  Nor  was  he  deficient  in  fancy  and 
imagination.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  fine  arts, 
especially  in  music,  of  which  he  was  no  mean  proficient. 
And  over  all  this  there  was  thrown  the  charm  of  a  quiet 

6 


62 

humor,  mellowing  the  firmer  and  more  serious  parts  of 
his  character. 

Professor  Norton  was  a  thorough  student.  He  was  a 
model  in  this  respect.  His  time  was  systematically 
divided,  and  each  portion  scrupulously  spent  in  its 
allotted  work.  There  were  no  idle  moments;  no  waste 
time.  Whatever  was  to  be  done,  was  done  at  once.  He 
carried  the  prompt  habits  of  a  business  man  into  his 
study.  It  is  a  peculiarity  which  distinguishes  student 
life  from  a  life  of  business,  that  it  is  possible  much  more 
frequently  to  postpone  the  labors  of  the  day  to  a  future 
opportunity.  Every  student  forms  plans  of  study,  but 
there  are  few  who  do  not  suffer  them  to  be  broken  in 
upon  or  frustrated.  But  we  should  as  soon  have  thought 
of  the  merchant  postponing  the  payment  of  a  note  till 
after  banking  hours,  as  of  Professor  Norton  postponing 
the  allowed  work  of  the  hour  to  another  time.  Professor 
Norton  studied  with  the  pen  in  his  hand.  No  German 
student  could  excel  him  in  the  diligence  with  which  he 
took  notes  of  the  lectures  he  attended,  or  recorded  his 
own  observations  on  what  he  was  studying.  He  com- 
posed with  great  facility  and  in  a  good  style,  and  was 
fond  of  writing.  He  has  left  behind  many  volumes  of 
manuscripts.  He  was  in  every  respect  a  scholar,  tho- 
rough, exact,  and  profound. 


63 

As  a  man,  as  a  member  of  society,  he  was  every  thing 
that  could  be  desired.  The  frankness  and  ingenuous- 
ness of  his  disposition,  his  genial  good  humor,  and 
gentlemanly  manners,  made  him  a  favorite  in  the  social 
circle.  He  was  always  interested  in  the  details  of  social 
liie,  took  part  in  all  innocent  amusements,  and  having 
worked  hard  enough  and  long  enough,  in  his  study,  he 
left  his  toils  behind  him.  He  enjoyed  life  himself,  and 
helped  others  to  enjoy  it.  What  he  was  in  the  dearer 
and  more  intimate  relations  of  life,  we  will  not  attempt 
to  describe ;  there  are  joys,  there  are  sorrows,  which 
even  near  friends  may  not  enter  into. 

But,  after  all,  it  was  as  a  man  of  Christian  principle, 
that  Professor  Norton  was  most  conspicuous.  He  early 
united  himself  with  the  Christian  church,  and  Christian 
principles  controlled  the  actions  of  his  life.  His  lirmness 
under  trying  circumstances  has  already  been  mentioned. 
But  the  same  firmness  was  seen  in  every  thing.  He  was 
always  on  the  right  side ;  no  one  ever  doubted  on  any 
moral  or  religious  subject,  where  he  would  be  found.  He 
made  the  Bible  the  man  of  his  counsel,  and  the  guide  of 
his  feet,  and  he  governed  his  household  according  to  its 
precepts.  His  life  had  been  an  uncommonly  happy  one. 
Prosperity  smiled  upon  him.  We  have  never  known  the 
individual  who  was  so  uniformly  blessed  of  Providence, 
in  all  his  undertakings.  And  yet,  at  the  unexpected 


64 

summons,  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  with  every  thing  to 
live  for,  he  was  ready — he  was  cheerful.  If  he  had  a 
care,  it  was  for  those  he  was  to  leave — for  the  aged  and 
venerable  grandmother,  who  leaned  upon  him — for  the 
father  who  had  done  so  much  for  him — for  the  family 
circle  which  surrounded  him — for  the  wife  of  his  tender- 
est  affections.  He  knew,  he  did  not  strive  to  conceal 
from  himself — the  pangs  that  would  pierce  them ;  and 
the  thoughts  that  were  diverted  from  Heaven,  were  for 
them,  to  comfort  and  console  them. 

His  affections  clung  around  his  laboratory  to  the  last 
moment.  He  spoke  of  it  with  the  deepest  interest.  After 
executing  a  brief  will,  he  made  many  verbal  bequests, 
among  them  the  one  to  the  college.  "  My  apparatus  and 
books  in  the  laboratory,"  he  said,  "  I  wish  given  to  the 
college,  if  the  department  shall  be  continued.  I  hope  it 
will  be  kept  up ;  it  has  cost  me  a  great  deal  of  labor." 

The  public  loss  in  this  death  is  great  indeed.  With 
that  intense  devotion  to  one  great  end  in  life,  in  which 
he  stood  alone  in  this  country  in  his  department,  and  we 
suppose  the  number  of  such  men  is  not  large  abroad ; 
with  those  habits  of  diligence  which  made  him  master  of 
the  vast  amount  of  knowledge,  necessary  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  that  soundness  of  judgment  which  kept  him 
from  all  speculative  schemes :  with  that  confidence  which 
he  had  already  inspired  into  the  agricultural  communi- 


65 

ty :  with  the  state  of  agriculture  in  the  land,  just  in  a 
condition  to  need  and  profit  by  the  labors  of  such  a  man 
— with  all  this  in  view — we  were  authorized  to  antici- 
pate, and  we  now  take  pleasure  in  expressing  the  antici- 
pation, that  he  would  have  risen  to  the  highest  distinction 
in  his  profession,  that  he  would  have  reflected  high  honor 
upon  the  college  with  which  he  was  connected,  and 
that  he  would  have  been  of  the  most  important  service 
to  his  country. 

But  our  friend  did  not  live  in  vain.  He  accomplished 
a  good  work.  He  left  a  name  without  a  blot.  He  be- 
queathed an  example  which  others  may  be  satisfied  to 
equal.  He  founded  a  school,  which,  in  accordance  with 
his  dying  wish,  we  trust,  the  community  will  not  suffer 
to  languish,  but  will  rear  up  to  be  his  perpetual  monu- 
ment; and  in  after  years,  when  it  shall  have  risen  to  wide- 
spread renown,  and  multitudes  on  multitudes  shall  have 
enjoyed  its  blessings,  honored  will  be  the  name  of  John 
Pitkin  Norton,  its  founder. 


From  the  Presbyterian  Magazine. 

HOUSEHOLD  THOUGHTS. 

"GLORIOUS  IMMORTALITY!"   "ALL  is  PEACE." 


"He  does  well  who  does  his  best: 
Is  he  weary?  Let  him  rest. 
Brothers !  I  have  done  my  best ; 
I  am  weary — let  me  rest!" 

In  a  retired  village  in  New  England,  amidst  beautiful 
scenery  of  nature,  stands  a  mansion  with  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  comfort  and  happiness.  But  death  is  within 
the  doors! 

Not  now  for  the  first  time  does  the  conqueror  come. 
Once  before  had  he  entered  that  Christian  home.  Then, 
an  aged  mother  in  Israel  sunk  into  her  last  sleep  before 
the  touch  of  his  sceptre.  Venerable  saint,  with  thy 
quiet  brow,  meek  eye,  comely  bearing,  and  loving  spirit, 
the  house  received  a  glory  in  being  the  birth  place  of 
thy  departure  into  another  world ! 

It  is  the  sabbath.  In  one  of  the  upper  chambers  is  a 
beloved  young  man,  soon  to  be  numbered  the  second  of 
the  dead  in  that  abode  of  love  and  peace.  The  rest  of 
the  Lord's  day  is  hushed  to  deeper  tranquility  by  the 
premonitions  of  a  fearful  providence.  A  son,  the  pride 


•  17 

and  joy — as  well  might  he  be — of  his  father's  heart,  is 
nigh  unto  death.  The  faint  breathings  of  a  tired  frame 
announce  that  the  last  sleep  is  drawing  near.  With 
kind  looks  to  all,  and  with  a  firm  faith  in  Christ,  the 
youthful  pilgrim  closes  his  eyes  on  the  world. 

Household  grief  at  such  a  time  may  not  be  inter- 
meddled with ;  but  theirs  is  grief  which  loses  not  the 
joy  of  Christian  hope,  and  which  looks  away  from  earth 
to  Christ,  resurrection,  and  glory.  As  the  church  bell, 
which  for  two  centuries  has  knelled  the  work  of  death 
in  that  retired  Puritan  village,*  struck  on  that  sabbath 
its  thirty  notes,  all  knew  the  meaning.  Fathers, 
mothers,  young  men,  maidens,  mingled  their  sympathies 
and  ejaculations  ;  not  a  few  their  tears.  The  venerable 
pastor's  heart  thrilled  with  peculiar  tenderness,  for  a  very 
dear  one  of  his  flock  had  panted  away  life  by  the  side 
of  the  spring — blessed  be  God,  of  the  living  spring ! 

The  young  man,  pale  in  death,  was  the  eldest  son.  God 
knows  the  swelling  tides  in  the  human  heart.  He  im- 
planted natural  affection,  sropy^v,  the  vehement  indwellings 
and  outgoings  of  a  father's  soul.  Parents  of  a  mortal  race, 
ye  receive  your  children  for  death  !  The  joy  which  wel- 
comes them  into  the  world  has  a  kindred  keenness  of 

*  The  custom  is  still  kept  up,  in  many  towns  of  New  England,  of 
tolling  the  bell  when  a  person  dies.  The  number  of  strokes  indicate 
the  age  of  the  deceased. 


68 

sorrow  in  mourning  them  out  of  it.  We  rejoice  and  we 
sorrow  over  them.  It  is  a  privilege  to  have  a  heart,  an 
overflowing  heart,  of  human  tender  love.  Father,  that 
son  deserves  well  the  tears  you  weep.  Over  you  how 
youthfully  would  he  have  wept  —  your  eldest,  darling 
child  !  But  the  sacred  gift  is  yours  to  weep  for  him. 
May  God  sanctify  that  unexpected,  inexperienced  sorrow. 
The  youth  is  a  Christian  youth.  On  his  form  of  manly 
beauty  lies  the  death-betokening  stillness;  for  he  is  not 
there.  He  is  with  Christ !  At  the  time  of  death  was  he 
with  him  in  Paradise.  Oh,  how  great  the  mercy  which 
brings  our  young  men  to  the  cross ;  which  brought  him 
there.  In  the  morning  of  life  he  renounced  all  for 
his  Saviour.  Trained  in  the  good  old  way,  he  walked  in 
it  during  the  opening  years  of  active  manhood,  pursued 
religion  as  the  chief  end,  and  was  thus  prepared  to  enter 
upon  its  everlasting  rewards  when  God  closed  his  earthly 
course.  Few  meditations  are  more  welcome  to  survivors 
than  those  which  are  linked  with  efforts  and  prayers  to 
bring  departed  ones  to  Christ.  The  writer  gratefully  re- 
members a  solemn  interview  with  this  dear  youth  in  a 
retired  corner  of  the  beautiful  garden  out  of  sight  except 
from  the  All  seeing.  His  mind  was  at  that  time,  un- 
known to  me  till  then,  concerned  on  religious  subjects. 
God  afterwards  brought  him  to  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  He  became  a  zealous  Christian.  He  was  in  the 


69 

Bible  class;  his  rich,  uncommon  voice  mingled  in  the 
choir  ;  he  was  known  as  a  friend  of  religion,  of  temper- 
ance, of  active  benevolence,  of  social  improvement;  a 
promoter  of  every  good  work.  Happiest  now  in  the  work 
of  heaven  ! 

In  a  brief  record  of  a  gifted  young  man,  it  is  not  out  of 
place  to  say  that  his  mental  endowments  and  acquirements 
were  great  and  beyond  his  years.  His  mind  was  quick, 
regular,  and  trustworthy  in  its  operations.  It  saw  and 
did  with  consummate  precision.  The  two  qualities, 
however,  which  enabled  him  to  accomplish  so  much  in 
his  short  career  were  system  and  perseverance.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-four  he  was  appointed  a  Professor  in  Yale 
College,  and  in  a  new  department  organized  with  some 
reference  to  his  own  adaptations  to  fill  it  with  honor.* 
He  was  rapidry  acquiring  a  reputation  as  a  scholar,  a  phi- 
losopher, and  a  writer.f  But  what  is  knowledge  ?  It 
shall  "vanish  away  !"  The  young  philosopher's  chair  is 
unoccupied  in  his  library  ;  the  laboratory  misses  his  quick 

*  The  professorship  was  that  of  Analytical  and  Agricultural  Chemis- 
try. 

t  Professor  John  Pitkin  Norton  was  undoubtedly  the  first  in  his  depart- 
ment in  the  United  States.  He  was  a  fine  lecturer,  and  had  the  art  of 
impelling  his  own  enthusiasm  into  the  minds  of  others.  He  was  much 
sought  after  to  deliver  Addresses  at  agricultural  conventions.  Several 
of  his  addresses  have  been  published,  and  are  admirable  specimens  of 
science  brought  home  to  the  people.  He  also  published  several  valuable 
scientific  works. 


70 

eye  and  steady  hand,  and  friendly  zeal.  Human  learning 
is  valuable  in  its  place  ;  but  tbere  is  a  wisdom  of  a  better 
kind,  and  more  enduring.  This  and  that  were  both  his. 
Social  traits  of  a  superior  character  were  his  ornament 
among  his  fellows.  His  glance  was  upon  life's  sunny 
side.  He  was  of  generous  temperament,  buoyant  in  good 
nature,  companionable,  courteous,  modest,  kind.  In  ad- 
dition to  his  personal  elements  of  popularity,  his  ancestral 
ties  bound  him  to  the  community.  His  great-grandfather 
was  good  old  Governor  Treadwell,  and  his  grandfather 
the  Honorable  Timothy  Pitkin,  both  of  Farmington,  the 
residence  of  rBs  own  honored  father,  and  where  he 
himself  had  come  to  die.  A  large  circle  of  friends,  espe- 
cially in  Farmington,  Albany,  and  New  Haven,  will  love 
to  cherish  his  memory  in  mourning  his  loss. 

The  ways  of  Providence  are  mysterious,  mit  not  the  less 

"f 

wise ;  often,  rather  be  it  said,  therefore  the  more  wise. 
"  Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his 
saints."  There  is  no  better  time  to  die  than  the  appoint- 
ed time.  God  had  been  preparing  his  young  servant  for 
heaven  by  afflictions  in  the  death  of  a  child  and  his  own 
failing  health.  The  soul  learns  rapidly  the  lessons  of  re- 
ligious experience,  when  Providence  and  the  Spirit  are  its 
associate  teachers.  Being  ready  to  go  why  should  any 
wish  him  to  stay  ?  and  having  gone  why  wish  him  back 
again?  The  5th  of  September,  1852,  is  as  good  a  time 


71 

to  die  as  any  time  in  any  year  a  hall'  century  hence.  The 
first  sabbath  of  autumn  was  his  last  earth-day.  On  be- 
ing rather  unexpectedly  told  a  few  days  before  that  he 
could  not  long  survive,  he  requested  to  be  left  alone  lor 
a  season.  Not  alone  !  For  the  family  took  knowledge 
of  him  that  he  had  been  with  Jesus.  His  joyful  tidings 
to  them  from  another  world  were  "Glorious  immortal- 
ity !"  "  All  is  peace  !" 

He  was  buried  at  New  Haven,  from  the  place  of  his 
late  residence,  in  that  beautiful  city.  "  Great  lamenta- 
tion was  made  over  him  ;"  and  he  was  carried  to  his  last 
resting-place  with  the  ingenuous  grief  of  alarge  concourse 
of  friends. 

"  He  does  well  who  does  his  best ; 
Is  he  weary  ?     Let  him  rest. 
£  Brothers  !  I  have  done  my  best ; 
I  am  weary — let  me  rest  ?" 

"  If  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so 
them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him 

The  following  is  a  meagre  outline  of  the  remarks  of 
President  Woolsey,  of  Yale  College,  at  the  grave : 

President  Woolsey  began  with  referring  to  Professor  Kingsley's  late 
decease  ;  that  the  college  had  just  lost  one,  nearly  the  oldest  of  its  offi- 
cers, and  now  it  was  called  to  mourn  for  Professor  Norton  the  youngest. 

Mr.  Norton  was  the  founder  in  this  country  of  the  science  to  which  he 
addicted  himself,  and  had  attained  in  his  short  course  to  a  point  where  he 
commanded  the  respect  of  men  of  science.  He  bade  fair  to  become  em- 
inent in  his  department.  He  had  qualified  himself  for  it  by  study  inEu- 


72 

rope  under  the  most  eminent  chemists  ;  and  had  received,  even  when  a 
student,  most  flattering  testimonials  to  his  skill  in  chemical  analysis. 

In  speaking  of  his  character,  President  "VVoolsey  said  that  he  was  a 
man  of  uncommonly  sweet  and  gentle  temper,  characterised  by  placidity 
and  equanimity,  to  which  were  united  great  patience  and  perseverance  in 
the  pursuit  of  whatever  he  had  undertaken. 

He  was  also  a  man  of  great  simplicity,  very  far  from  love  of  show,  and 
from  pretension.  His  lecturing  was  a  proof  of  this,  in  which  he  thought 
nothing  of  himself,  and  was  entirely  engrossed  with  his  subject.  He 
seemed  in  this  simplicity  more  like  a  little  child  than  almost  any  man 
whom  I  have  known. 

He  was  also  a  man  of  great  probity.  He  had  a  natural  straightfor- 
wardness, which  well  became  the  descendant  of  some  of  the  worthiest 
Puritans  of  Connecticut.  He  seemed  to  love  truth  for  its  own  sake.  He 
was  inflexible  in  doing  right,  and  whenever  a  point  of  duty  was  involved 
steadily  adhered  to  true  principles.  This  was  manifested  in  his  con- 
stantly refusing  when  abroad,  and  after  his  return  whenMhrown  among 
worldly  men,  to  do  any  act  looking  like  desecration  of  the  sabbath,  and 
by  his  strict  temperance  principles  in  all  companies,  and  on  all  occasions. 

But  the  crowning  glory  of  his  character  was  his  religion,  ^hich  brought 
out  and  gave  strength  to  his  natural  good  qualities.  In  his  youth  he  felt  the 
power  of  divine  grace,  united  himself  with  the  church  in  Farmington,  and 
had  ever  since  led  a  life  consistent  with  his  profession.  Hence,  when  the 
summons  to  die  came,  he  was  not  unprepared  or  thrown  off  his  guard.  He 
was  told  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  his  living,  then  calmly  shut  his  eyes 
without  a  murmur,  and  on  opening  them  again,  turning  to  his  wife  who 
was  sitting  by  his  side,  said  as  if  he  was  giving  utterance  to  the  closing 
thoughts  of  a  sweet  train,  "Glorious  immortality  !"  adding  shortly  after, 
"All  is  peace!' 

Rarely  do  we  see  a  character  more  respected  by  the  world,  or  more  tru- 
ly lovely,  than  of  the  young  man  whose  body  we  have  now  laid  in  the 
grave. 


From  the  Culliyator. 

OBITUARY  OF  PROF,  NORTON* 

Misfortunes  never  come  singly.  We  had  scarcely  laid 
down  our  saddened  pen,  and  cast  an  earnest  look  into  the 
already  darkened  future,  when  another  in  the  bloom  of 
his  maturity,  was  called  hence.  Calmly,  peacefully, 
trustingly,  he  has  passed  to  the  land  of  vhis  faith,  to  the 
home  of  the  blest,  leaving  regret  to  border  the  pathway  he 
had  trod,  and  tears  to  water  in  vain  the  hopes  which  his 
usefulness  had  awakened.  Prof.  Norton  is  dead,  aged  only 
thirty. 

"  Those  the  gods  love,  die  young, 

But  they  whose  hearts  are  dry 

As  summers'  dust,  burn  to  the  socket." 

The  lives  of  the  truly  great  are  always  instructive,  and 
could  we  read  them  rightly,  would  teach  us  useful  les- 
sons, both  in  the  sublime  results  which  attend  their  labors 
and  in  the  mode  by  which  their  greatness  has  been  at- 
tained. While  one  whose  talents  and  accomplishments 
have  distinguished  him  among  the  wise  men  and  schol- 
ars of  his  day  lives,  we  admire  only  the  proofs  of  his  ge- 


74 

nius  and  ability ;  but  when  such  an  one  is  removed  from 
our  midst,  we  naturally  inquire  into  the  elements  of  his 
power.  It  is  in  this  way  that,  when  one  is  dead,  he 
yet  speaketh — speaks  not  only  in  word  and  in  deed,  but 
in  the  more  silent  operations  of  the  mind,  which  are 
marked  in  the  successive  grades  of  culture  by  which  one 
rises  to  eminence. 

Deeply  as  we  deplore  the  loss  of  the  most  practical 
agricultural  writer  and  thinker  of  the  present  time — one 
from  whence  the  farming  community  expected  much, arid 
whose  efforts  promised  more  permanently  beneficial  re- 
sults than  those  of  any  other  man,  we  shall  find  that  his 
life,  though  short,  is  full  of  instruction  and  replete  with 
interest. 

From  his  youth,  Mr.  Norton  had  been  more  or  less  con- 
versant with  the  practice  of  agriculture,  and  as  is  natur- 
ally the  case  with  an  inquiring  mind,  the  apparent  lack 
of  system,  and  ruinous  waste  often  seen,  led  to  thought 
and  investigation.  After  having  pursued  the  study  of 
chemistry  with  the  ablest  professors  in  this  country,  he 
visited  Europe,  in  the  summer  of  1844,  for  the  purpose 
of  pursuing  his  studies  farther  than  could  be  done  here, 
and  also  to  extend  his  observations.  Mr.  Norton  accom- 
panied Prof.  Johnston  on  a  tour  through  Scotland,  the  re- 
sults of  which  appeared  in  his  letters  published  in  this 
journal.  These  letters,  which  were  continued  regularly 


75 

during  his  absence,  were  his  first  introduction  to  the  pub- 
lic as  a  writer,  and  established  his  reputation  as  a  careful 
observer,  a  close  reasoner,  and  a  sound  thinker.  During 
his  stay  in  Scotland  he  enjoyed  the  closest  intimacy  with 
Prof.  Johnston,  and  pursued  his  studies  under  his  direction 
at  the  Laboratory  of  the  Agricultural  Chemical  Associa- 
tion. The  analyses  furnished  by  him  from  time  to  time, 
show  the  accuracy  of  his  mind  and  his  superior  industry, 
and  his  Notes  on  Prof.  Johnston's  Lectures  are  valuable 
abstracts,  forming  almost  a  complete  text  book  of  agricul- 
tural science.  All  his  communications  to  the  Cultivator 
are  of  permanent  value,  and  show  the  condition  of  ag- 
ricultural science  in  Scotland  at  that  time. 

In  the  fall  of  1845,  he  made  a  tour  on  the  continent, 
for  the  purpose  of  visiting  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
laboratories,  and  his  letters  were  for  a  time  discontinued. 
Shortly  after,  he  returned  to  this  country,  when  he  re- 
ceived an  appointment  to  a  professorship  of  chemistry, 
as  applied  to  agriculture,  which  had  been  created  at  Yale 
College.  Mr.  Norton  wished  to  perfect  himself  in  chem- 
istry before  entering  upon  his  duties  as  professor,  and 
with  this  in  view  he  sailed  again  for  Europe  in  the  fall 
of  1846.  Here  we  notice  a  prominent  characteristic  of 
Prof.  Norton.  There  was  nothing  of  pretension  in  his 
nature — he  was  unwilling  to  assume  a  responsibility  till 
he  felt  himself  fully  equal  to  it.  Instead  of  being  vain 


76 

of  the  honor  thus  early  bestowed  on  him,  he  goes  man- 
fully and  earnestly  to  work  to  lay,  deep  and  strong,  the 
foundations  of  a  science,  of  which  the  first  rudiments 
were  scarcely  known. 

In  the  year  1846,  a  premium  of  fifty  sovereigns  ($250) 
was  offered  by  the  Highland  and  Agricultural  Society  of 
Scotland,  for  the  best  analysis  of  the  oat.  The  chemical 
constituents  and  the  physiology  of  the  growth  of  this 
plant,  were  little  known,  and  a  scientific  analysis  had 
never  been  attempted.  Mr.  Norton,  still  a  student  in  the 
laboratory,  and  in  competition  with  several  learned  chem- 
ists, obtained  this  premium.  This  is  more  remarkable 
from  the  fact  that  he  was  an  American,  and  unknown  to 
the  scientific  world.  The  article  contains  thirty-nine 
tables,  showing  the  composition  of  the  different  parts  of 
the  oat,  and  at  several  stages  of  its  growth,  and  displays 
a  vast  amount  of  research  and  an  untiring  industry.  In 
the  conclusion  of  the  article,  Mr.  Norton  remarks — "  I 
may  be  permitted  to  say,  that  the  extent  of  this  investiga- 
tion, and  the  many  points  which  I  have  been  compelled 
to  leave  undetermined  or  doubtful,  after  eighteen  months 
of  constant  labor,  must  convince  those  who  entertain  false 
ideas  of  the  time  and  patience  necessary  for  chemical  re- 
searches of  this  kind,  that  they  have  erred  in  supposing 
the  chemist  able  to  do  in  a  few  days  or  weeks  what  can 
only  be  effected  by  the  labor  and  study  of  many  success- 
ive years." 


77 

How  strangely  does  this  language  of  a  successful  scho- 
lar contrast  with  the  assertions  of  later,  not  to  say  riper 
chemists,  who  arrive  at  the  most  profound  conclusions 
with  an  astonishing  facility,  and,  in  advance  of  public 
opinion,  award  to  themselves  the  highest  eulogiums. 

During  his  stay  in  Europe  Mr.  Norton  studied  with 
Prof.  Mulder  at  Utrecht,  Holland,  one  of  the  greatest 
physiologists  and  chemists  of  his  day.  His  letters  from 
Holland  are  admirable  pictures  of  the  rural  aspect  of  the 
country.  Upon  his  return  to  this  country  in  the  fall  of 
1847,  he  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Yale.  Though  at- 
tendance on  the  lectures  in  his  department  was  volunta- 
ry, and  comparatively  little  attention  had  been  paid  to 
agricultural  chemistry  by  the  young  men  in  our  colleges, 
he  soon  gathered  a  class  of  students,  which  was  gradually 
increasing  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His  laboratory  was  in 
fact  the  only  place  in  this  country  where  the  principles  of 
science,  as  applied  to  agriculture,  were  thoroughly  taught. 

The  cares  of  his  professorship  were  not  his  exclusive 
occupation.  A  Treatise  on  Scientific  Agriculture,  which 
was  written  as  a  prize  essay,  and  took  a  premium  of  one 
hundred  dollars,  offered  by  the  New  York  State  Agricul- 
tural Society,  and  was  subsequently  published  as  a  text 
book  for  schools,  was  prepared  by  him  in  1850.  This 
little  work  embodies  all  the  fundamental  principles  of 
agricultural  science,  so  far  as  well  established,  and  has 
been  widely  circulated. 


78 

Prof.  Norton  also  wrote  .an  appendix  to  Stephcns's 
Book  of  the  Farm,  together  with  notes,  such  as  to  adapt 
it  to  this  country.  In  the  Cultivator  for  January,  1850, 
Professor  Norton  commenced  a  series  of  letters,  which 
were  continued  without  interruption  till  his  sickness. 
Those  communications  were  of  such  a  practical  nature, 
and  so  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  farmers,  that  they 
constituted  one  of  the  chief  attractions  of  the  Cultivator. 
His  views  of  scientific  farming  were  not  of  that  ultra, 
radical  sort  that  empyrics  love  so  well  to  dwell  upon,  but 
rather  the  more  rational  and  common  sense  ideas,  which 
a  knowledge  of  the  real  condition  of  our  farmers  and 
their  interests,  combined  with  sound  discipline  of  mind, 
would  naturally  form.  If  his  style  lacked  ornament,  it 
was  because  the  frame  work  he  had  to  build  was  too 
vast  a  structure  to  admit  of  decoration ;  if  he  rarely 
called  imagination  to  his  aid,  it  was  because  he  was  too 
intent  upon  the  stern  realities  of  things ;  if  he  seldom 
manifested  any  great  enthusiasm,  it  was  because  he  was 
conscious  of  having  only  entered  on  a  work  whose  tri- 
umphs still  lay  in  the  unexplored  future.  Thoughtfully, 
carefully,  steadily,  he  was  laying  the  foundation  on 
which,  in  after  years,  he  might  rear  as  proud  a  monu- 
ment as  science  ever  wrote  her  name  upon.  Agriculture 
in  this  country  had  much  to  hope  for  in  his  efforts :  for 
he  bent  the  undivided  energies  of  his  mind  to  its 


advancement.  His  "whole  soul  was  in  the  work;  he 
had  the  confidence  of  every  one,  and  with  no  other  per- 
son could  the  interests  of  our  rural  population  be  so 
safely  entrusted  as  with  Professor  Norton.  Upon  whom 
will  his  mantle  fall  ?  Who  will  arise  to  guide  through 
the  shoals  and  quick  sands  of  reckless  imposture,  the 
noble  ship  of  American  industry  ? 

We  have  not  space  enough  to  speak  of  particular 
articles  of  Prof.  Norton's,  nor  to  notice  the  many  address- 
es which  he  delivered  at  intervals  before  agricultural 
societies  and  the  community  generally.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  that  every  thing  he  wrote,  and  every  thing  he  said, 
was  marked  by  the  same  uniform  prudence,  the  same 
careful  judgment,  which  characterizes  the  man.  He 
was  never  led  into  error — never  ran  headlong  into  chi- 
meras and  fanaticism  —  and  so  was  never  obliged  to 
retract  what  he  had  said,  or  retire  from  positions  he  had 
taken. 

When  the  project  of  the  University  of  Albany  was 
broached  in  1851,  Professor  Norton  entered  warmly  into 
the  plan.  He  had  felt  deeply  the  need  of  such  an  insti- 
tution, and  knew  the  obstacles  which  lay  in  the  way  of 
the  students  of  agriculture  and  the  natural  sciences. 
He  advocated  it  as  the  best  means  of  securing  a  perma- 
nent basis  to  our  agricultural  interests,  and  forming  a 
nucleus  for  science  in  this  country.  The  lectures  which 


80 

he  delivered  in  the  winter  of  1851-2,  before  a  class 
which  was  gathered  in  Albany,  were  popular  and 
instructive.  lie  had  a  rare  faculty  of  expressing  in 
plain  language  his  thoughts  on  the  most  abstruse  sub- 
jects, and  also  of  holding  the  attention  of  an  audience 
to  his  theme.  The  severe  labor,  attendant  on  delivering 
courses  of  lectures  at  New  Haven  and  at  the  University 
of  Albany,  materially  impaired  his  health,  and  before 
the  close  of  his  lectures,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  for  a 
warmer  climate.  Strong  hopes  were  entertained,  at 
first,  of  his  recovery,  but  Providence  had  otherwise 
ordered.  After  his  return  to  the  north,  he  sank  slowly 
to  his  end.  Though  conscious  that  he  must  leave  a 
world  which  was  just  opening  to  his  ambition,  and  a 
circle  of  friends  who  fully  appreciated  his  worth,  he  was 
cheered  on  by  that  Christian  hope  which  had  been  his 
guide  and  solace  during  life.  The  exchange  of  worlds 
is  for  him  a  happy  one,  but  his  loss  will  cast  a  shadow 
on  many  a  heart. 

His  character  was  in  the  highest  degree  estimable, 
and  his  virtues  were  of  that  quiet,  unobtrusive  nature, 
which  steal  so  readily  into  the  affections  of  every  one. 
He  was  eminently  fitted  to  grace  the  social  circle,  and 
his  pleasing,  artless  manner,  winning  address,  and 
animated  style  of  conversation,  made  his  society  pecu- 
liarly desirable. 


81 

The  personal  friends  of  Prof.  Norton  mourn  one  who 
was  endeared  to  them  by  the  closest  intimacy, — the 
scientific  world,  one  of  their  brightest  lights,  and  the 
readers  of  the  Cultivator,  a  most  valuable  correspondent. 
Thus  in  the  space  of  five  short  weeks,  have  we  been 
called  to  write  the  obituaries  of  the  two  most  prominent 
horticultural  and  agricultural  writers  of  the  day,  men 
whose  places  can  not  well  be  filled,  and  whose  memories 
will  long  be  cherished  by  every  lover  of  his  country. 


From  the  Bostjn  Cultivator. 

'',';".          JOHN  PITKIN  NORTON. 

In  common  with  all  true  friends  of  improvement,  we 
mourn  the  death  of  this  talented  and  estimable  man. 
We  express  no  feigned  regret — we  feel  that  the  whole 
country  has  suffered  loss.  This  is  not  the  occasion  for 
his  eulogy,  were  we  able  to  do  justice  to  his  character : 
but  we  can  not  refrain  from  some  tribute,  however 
feeble,  to  the  memory  of  one,  whose  brief  career  has 
been  so  useful,  and  whose  prospects,  viewed  in  reference 
to  the  benefits  he  might  have  conferred  on  his  fellow 
men,  were  so  full  of  hope. 

Professor  Norton  was  no  ordinary  man ;  he  was  one 
in  whom  the  "  elements  seemed  so  blended,"  that  he 
commanded  universal  respect.  Though  he  had  only 
reached  the  age  of  thirty  years,  he  had  wrought  for 
himself  a  position  and  reputation  among  the  distin- 
guished men  of  the  age.  His  labors  were  principally 
directed  to  the  applications  of  science  to  agriculture, 
and  without  any  invidious  motive,  we  may  safely  say 
that  to  no  man  is  this  country  more  deeply  indebted 
than  to  him,  for  the  valuable  truths  which  have  been 


83 

elicited  on  this  subject.  His  whole  aim  was  truth.  He 
sought  no  temporary  eclat  by  the  announcement  of 
novel  ideas,  or  ill  founded  statements.  With  a  strength 
of  judgment  and  power  of  discrimination  beyond  his 
years,  he  carefully  weighed  and  examined  every  thing, 
and  held  last  the  good. 

His  advantages  of  education,  which  were  liberal,  were 
well  improved.  He  spent  nearly  three  years  in  Europe, 
under  eminent  professors  in  Britain  and  on  the  con- 
tinent, returning  to  this  country  in  1847.  To  aptitude 
in  acquiring  knowledge,  he  united  the  happy  faculty  of 
practically  applying  it — a  faculty  which  was  doubtless 
greatly  strengthened  by  his  labors  and  observations  on 
his  father's  farm. 

For  a  few  years  Prof.  Norton  has  been  at  the  head  of 
the  department  of  Chemistry  applied  to  Agriculture  and 
the  Phenomena  of  Vegetable  and  Animal  Life  in  Yale 
College ;  in  which  capacity  many  young  men  have  had 
the  benefit  of  his  instructions.  He  has  also  been  a 
frequent  contributor  to  the  agricultural  and  scientific 
journals,  and  has  lectured  with  great  acceptance  on 
agricultural  subjects. 

His  death  was  caused  by  disease  of  the  lungs,  com- 
bined with  the  effect  of  measles.  His  health  has  been 
considerably  impaired  for  some  months,  but  hopes  were 
entertained  of  his  recovery  until  within  a  short  time. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  PROF.  JOHN  PITKIN  NORTON. 

Called  early!     Gone,  while  yet  his  years  were  few  : 

So  counts  the  world  upon  her  calendar ; 

But  those  there  are  who  wear  the  snows  of  time 

Upon  their  furrowed  temples,  and  yet  die 

Younger  than  he,  the  great  intent  of  life 

All  unachieved. 

Yet  hath  he  made  his  mark 
On  his  own  clime,  and  on  the  Mother  Land 
Beyond  the  flood,  even  in  his  youthful  prime. 
Yes,  he  hath  made  his  mark. 

Yale's  classic  halls, 

In  all  their  ancient  pride,  remember  him  ; 
While,  neath  their  dome,  a  thoughtful  student  band 
Who  duly  listened  to  his  treasured  lore, 
Lament  their  Teacher. 

Yes,  it  seems  that  earth 
Herself  remembereth  him ;  so  well  he  knew 
Her  hidden  elements  and  sequences, 
And  how  to  wake  her  full  benevolence, 
Making  her  children  happier  through  her  wealth, 
Methinks  even  trees  and  plants  remember  him, 
And  pour,  on  heavy  winds,  a  solemn  wail ; 
Their  harp-like  branches  mingling  with  the  sigh 
Of  sorrow  from  his  desolated  home. 
Life  spread  in  strong  array  her  charms  for  him : 
Young  wife,  and  infant  boy  to  lisp  his  name, 
Father  and  mother,  and  the  stricken  hearts 
Of  truthful  brothers,  clinging  round  his  own. 


85 

Saw  ye  beside  his  grave  two  honored  forms, 
Fond  guardians  of  his  parents'  infancy, 
Who  now,  in  holy  sanctity  of  age, 
Wept  for  their  loved  one,  as  the  flower  of  grass 
Fading  beside  them  ? 

The  same  hallowed  guide* 
Who  blessed  his  hoary  grandsire,  when  he  took 
His  pilgrim  staff,  to  tread  the  darkened  vale, 
Did  gird  him,  as  he  suddenly  went  forth 
On  his  returnless  journey. 

List  his  words  ! 

When  with  a  brandished  dart  the  pale  king  rose, 
Like  basilisk  amid  a  violet  bank  : 
"  Peace  and  a  steadfast  hope" 

Serene,  he  closed 

His  eyes  in  solemn  thought,  a  little  space, 
Communing  with  his  God. 

And  then  there  burst 
From  their  unfolding  lids,  a  light  of  joy, 
And  from  his  icy  lips  the  blessed  sound 
Of  "  Glorious  immortality. " 

And  so 
He  passed  away. 

And  those  who  saw  that  scene, 
Though  griefs  dire  pang  was  wrestling  at  their  heart, 
Touched  by  that  strong  sublimity  of  faith 
That  conquereth  death,  mingled  God's  praise  with  tears. 

L.  H.  S. 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Porter,  of  Farmington,  who  was  greatly  beloved  and 
respected  by  the  late  venerable  Gov.  Treadwell,  of  Connecticut. 


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